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I like Derek’s “user-generated content”
I was going to write a post about terms like “user-generated content” - which my boss at globeandmail.com, Angus Frame, and I had a discussion about awhile back, after he said how much he despised the term “citizen journalism” - but I don’t have to any more because Derek Powazek has a great post that says everything I was going to say, as well or better (hey, anything is possible). As he puts it:
“Can I make a suggestion? Let’s all stop using the phrase “user-generated content.” I’m serious. It’s a despicable, terrible term.” Let’s deconstruct it.
User: One who uses. Like, you know, a junkie.
Generated: Like a generator, engine. Like, you know, a robot.
Content: Something that fills a box. Like, you know, packing peanuts.”
Derek is totally right. “User-generated content” is something that a marketing ‘droid would say in a report to upper management or the accounting department, about all that stuff that someone produces somewhere that gets ads wrapped around it. It has no soul, it has no life, it has no meaning. Jeremy Zawodny has joined the fight, and so has Umair Haque of Bubblegeneration, and Jeremiah Owyang. Derek says:
“Think about the rest of the world. Writers produce stories or articles. Authors write fiction or memoir. These are words infused with meaning and romance. Can you imagine a writer saying “I am a content provider” when asked what they do?”
If you feel okay with saying you’re a “content provider,” then I hope you are writing stuff for the back of packages, or user manuals for enterprise-class printers or something like that. Why not just call it writing? Derek wants to call it “authentic media,” which is a nice try but has (ironically) a kind of fake ring to it. I’m going to continue to search for a good term - and it will be as far away from the term “user-generated content” as possible.
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hey Matthew, good luck with that search for an alternate term! I’ll be interested to see what you come up with.
speaking for myself, I don’t use the term because I’m a fan. I and others I know have been trying to find a better way to describe the amazing insights and creativity that individual people are contributing in various media formats to online spaces.
As you can see from that last sentence we still haven’t come up with anything particularly catchy yet.
as ugly as it is, UGC (eh, the acronym is even worse) has stuck. We *need* some kind of grouping term for this kind of content (see, I have no big issue with the word content… it doesn’t smell of packing peanuts to me). It’s going to take something pretty amazing and resonant to both business and the rest of us, to unstick it. and, I agree, ‘authentic media’ isn’t quite right. (at the very least because my clients will resent the implication that the rest of their media is inauthentic!)
User-generated content is dead! Long live user-generated vontent!
Dear Derek Powazek, You want to kill the term "user-generated content"? I couldn’t disagree with Derek Powazek more. Let’s deconstruct it, per how it is defined in the dictionary and not spun by an A-lister who’s involved in some of the co…
Thanks for the comment, Leisa. I’ll let you know if I come up with anything brilliant :-)
Mathew
It’s always interesting to examine (or deconstruct) the meaning behind the words we use. In my view, “user generated content” has its place… when it’s used carefully. Myspace blogs, for example, pump out lots of user generated content (which is now beginning to be indexed!). That’s user gen content, in my view. So it implies a lack of quality or polish, I suppose.
Cluetrain Again, User Generated Content
Perhaps, it’s time to purchase another round of The Cluetrain Manifesto for a new round of technology executives. "We are not seats or eyeballs or end users or consumers - we are human beings". - The Cluetrain Manifesto,…
Free as in User GeneratedMathew / mathewingram.com/work:I like Derek’s “user-generated content”
+ Discussion: mobile jones, ben barren, Bubblegeneration Strategy Lab, Web Strategy by Jeremiah, Supr.c.ilio.us,mathewingram.com/work, Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim, Message, Jeremy Zawodny’s blog, Susan Mernit’s Blog, Church of the Customer Blog and blackrimglasses.com
Interessando, luogo abbastanza luminoso, penso +5