Jan

23

Social Media and User Generated Content - End it Now?

January 23, 2007 |

While driving to work this morning, listening to TWIT and hearing all kinds of talk about “user generated content,” I couldn’t help but being struck by the paradox inherent in the term. Isn’t every kind of content, almost by definition, created by a user of something? And if I generate content, am I not a content creator?

There also seems to be this idea among many Web 2.0ish folks that most people want to create content and that is true, if you consider putting your pictures of your kids on flickr as creating content, but I would argue with that.

If we take creating content to mean creating a podcast, blog, video meant for the consumption by others outside of our inner circle of friends and family, then I think we have reduced the amount of content producers by 99%. Most people are and always will remain content consumers and there is nothing wrong with that. Lets just not call content creators “users”. And hey, we don’t call media “consumer consumed content.”

Funnily, Steve Rubel writes about the term “social media” today, and thinks about this among some of the same lines, they he is more concerned with who we can call the “media” in this day and age.


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