Posted on April 25, 2008
User Generated Content On the Rise
BY JASON CORMIER
E-Marketer's April report on user generated content (UGC) predicts that almost 43% of Internet users in the U.S. will create and share online content this year.
The top two questions I think this research addresses are: 1.) is UGC a fad?, and 2.) Can it be monetized (what every good marketer wants to know)?
The answer to the first question is no. As the executive summary of the report suggests, any notion of UGC being a passing fad should be put to rest.
I remember in the late 90's, leading web developers and UI strategists knew there were great reasons to push for "interactive experiences" on the web. What many had no clue about was that so much of the experience would actually be created and driven by the users themselves.
Knowing where we are today with this should seriously prompt organizations to look at how they might use UGC as part of their marketing and customer service loop.
In terms of monetization, the research is in the context of you guessed it, advertising. The main thing I get from the report are that advertisers are hesitant to enthusiastically push advertising next to UGC. Or, as Andrew Keen was quoted in Newsweek last month, "nobody wants to advertise next to crap."
Still, there are reports of organizations that plainly state they are having success selling ads next to UGC. Video sharing site, Veoh, is one of them -- selling banners as well as video advertising for approximately $8 - $20 per thousand impressions (CPM).
What's your opinion of UGC? Do you think advertising will continue to find its way into the mix?
It is no surprise that UGC is so popular, you could argue that it has defined a generation for anyone under the age of 25. The problem with monetizing UGC is that current advertising techniques are outdated; as the modern Internet user becomes more clever at blocking out unsolicited messages and annoying banner ads, things like dancing mortgage rate calculators will become useless and completely ineffective. Unsolicited online advertising is also counter productive to the popularity of UGC as it is all too easy to enjoy the ability to share and publish anything you want in its purest form, advertisement-free and cost-free, which some would argue is the reason UGC is so popular in the first place. The only way this will ever be monetized, without harming its integrity, is if current advertising methods and marketing techniques can adapt and appeal to the same cognitive thought which draws people to UGC publishers in the first place.
"nobody wants to advertise next to crap."
We've had challenges monetizing blogs for precisely this reason. Some of the most high traffic blogs on our local news site are High School sports-related. Although there are some great comments and information there, its mixed in with posts from high school kids bashing each other and other schools. Perhaps we need more "moderated" blog initiatives, but then that would defeat the whole purpose of a blog right? UG photos and videos are easier to sell the blogs are what seem to present the challenge.
I'm glad to hear evidence that UGC is increasing. Most UGC is rather poor quality and I've found it's hard to encourage people to create enough good stuff. But I think it's a given, that, over time people will become more comfortable with social media and more adept at actively creating with it.