Apparently, YouTube has now joined the ever increasing bandwagon of new media websites that are scaling back on their user generated contents (UGC). In the article ‘Wither user-generated content?’ the Star, a Malaysian daily, the popular video sharing website has signed an agreement with big-league broadcaster CBS Networks to screen full length episodes of some of the network’s TV series’, complete with advertising. This claims the article, marks a growing trend in the embracing of more professional content as opposed to UGC.
First of all, what exactly is UGC? One of the main features that set the new media apart from the rest is the high involvement of its users/readers in determining its content. More specifically, UGC, also known as consumer generated media, is a reference to any materials created or uploaded to the internet by non-media professionals (Interactive Advertising Bureau, 2008).
This means anything from articles or opinions that are posted up on blogs, reviews of products on online trading sites and videos that are posted online. One of the most well known examples of UGC is entries in Wikipedia and CNN’s I-Reports. Although the concept has been around for a long time, it only took off in a big way with the arrival of new media and web 2.0 which offered its users new levels of interactivity (Wikipedia).
Many of those in the information and communication establishment are critical of UGC. While not against the new media and web 2.0, they criticise what seems to be the amateurish approach of UGC and its tendency to be opinionated, and are superficial. The importance of the professional context in which ones writes or presents information will help with the credibility and clarity of an issue (Putnis, 1996). Below, is what veteran BBC newscaster Jeremy Paxman did when instructed to promote UGC on the network.
Nevertheless, despite the criticism and the apparent trend of popular new media websites ‘distancing’ themselves from UGC, it will still be round in the foreseeable future. The reason is simple, the reason most new media websites are so popular is primarily because of UGC itself. Users do not just want to know what the so called ‘professionals’ and ‘experts’ think of something, they want to put their own views out there and listen to opinions from regular folk like themselves. So unless the above mentioned websites and others like them want to risk losing the mass of their users, UGC will be around and most probably flourish for some time.
For more information, please click on the following links:
Principles of UGC
- http://www.ugcprinciples.com/
User Generated Content (Wikipedia)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User-generated_content
YouTube’s CEO on the power of UGC
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcAwrLw92rw
Source
Yeoh, O. 2008, Wither User Generated Content, The Star. Viewed on 30th October 2008 at <http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/10/16/focus/2274205&sec=focus> on 23rd October 2008>
IAB Platform Status Report: User Generated Content, Social Media, and Advertising — An Overview, 2008, Interactive Advertising Bureau. Viewed on 1st November 2008 at <http://www.iab.net/media/file/2008_ugc_platform.pdf>
User generated content – Wikipedia. Viewed on 30th October 2008 at <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User-generated_content#Criticism>
Putnis, Peter and Petelin, Roslyn, 1996, Writing to communicate, Professional communication: principles and applications, Prentice Hall ,Sydney.
No comments:
Post a Comment