User-Generated Content - The Phrase of the Year

Tyson Ibele is the new face of user-generated content, and he is also only 19 years old. Hailing from Minneapolis in America, Ibele won a contest on the cable network Current TV for its first viewer-created ad message. Ibele created an ad for Sony, which featured a robot transforming into various Sony products, such as a stereo, a flat-screen television, a DVD player, digital camera and then finally a portable PlayStation machine.

Current is a website, very similar to YouTube, but it specialises in news, their motto, 'You Make The News...We Put It On Television', speaks to its users who generate content "for roughly one-third of its programming, from fashion features to foreign documentaries" (Bosman 2006). Current operates under "the theory that its programming will be more relevant if its audience, primarily 18 to 34 year olds, have a voice in creating it. If the audience is interested, there is less of a risk that they will tune out in favor of other entertainment like the Internet and video games" (Bosman 2006).

This notion of user generated content is fast becoming the phrase of the year as, Julie Bosman from The New York Times writes in her article, An Agency's Worst Nightmare: Ads Created by Users, states that user-generated content "owes part of its popularity to the younger age group's increasing agility at working with video and audio tools at home to mimic what television studios and advertising agencies do for hefty fees".

Simlarly, user-generated content touches upon, the notion of do-it-yourself media. Websites like Current, IndyMedia and Internet Archive are all a part of DIY media. These sites are primarily user-generated and rely on their users to add and collaborate content, much like YouTube, however the sites centre on specific topics, as there is a community for everything in the DIY media world. For instance, YouTube is primarily a video sharing website with any type of content available; however, Current primarily focuses on news and their target audience of 18-34 year olds, people who Al Gore, former U.S. vice president and co-founder of Current, "want to learn about the world in a voice they recognise and a view they recognise as their own". Therefore, letting the users generate the content was the only way for Current to succeed, otherwise it just would have become another YouTube with no specific focus or aim.

User-generated content is fast becoming the phrase of the year, and quite possibly the phrase of the decade as social networking sites like MySpace, Bebo and Flickr heavily rely on their users constantly adding content.

Reference
Bosman, J. 2006. An Agency's Worst Nightmare: Ads Created By Users. The New York Times. May 11, 2006. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/11/business/media/11adco.html?ei=5090&en=0488b91d695a5873&ex=1305000000&adxnnl=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1210756644-Cu0l+HQU1awGW4SqkQErjA

Johnson, T. 2007. Al Gore joins Emmy Parade. Variety. September, 13, 2007. http://www.variety.com/awardcentral_article/VR1117971953.html?nav=news&categoryid=1983&cs=1