User-generated content

User-generated content (UGC), alternatively known as user-created content (UCC), is generally any form of content, such as images, videos, text, testimonials, and audio, that has been posted by users on online content aggregation platforms such as social media, discussion forums and wikis. It is a product consumers create to disseminate information about online products or the firms that market them.^{[dubious – discuss]}^[1]^[2]

User-generated content is used for a wide range of applications, including problem processing, news, entertainment, customer engagement, advertising, gossip, research and many more. It is an example of the democratization of content production and the flattening of traditional media hierarchies. The BBC adopted a user-generated content platform for its websites in 2005, and TIME Magazine named "You" as the Person of the Year in 2006, referring to the rise in the production of UGC on Web 2.0 platforms.^[3]^[4] CNN also developed a similar user-generated content platform, known as iReport.^[5] There are other examples of news channels implementing similar protocols, especially in the immediate aftermath of a catastrophe or terrorist attack.^[6] Social media users can provide key eyewitness content and information that may otherwise have been inaccessible. By 2020 businesses are increasingly leveraging User Generated Content to promote their products, as it is seen as a cost effective and authentic way to grow a brand's image and sales. Due to new media and technology affordances, such as low cost and low barriers to entry, the Internet is an easy platform to create and dispense user-generated content,^[7] allowing the dissemination of information at a rapid pace in the wake of an event.^[8]

^ Krumm, John; Davies, Nigel; Narayanaswami, Chandra (October 2008). "User-Generated Content". IEEE Pervasive Computing. 7 (4): 10–11. doi:10.1109/MPRV.2008.85. ISSN 1558-2590.
^ Berthon, Pierre; Pitt, Leyland; Kietzmann, Jan; McCarthy, Ian P. (August 2015). "CGIP: Managing Consumer-Generated Intellectual Property". California Management Review. 57 (4): 43–62. doi:10.1525/cmr.2015.57.4.43. ISSN 0008-1256. S2CID 12234496.
^ "The BBC May be the First Mainstream Industrial Medium to Adopt UCG". BBC News. 4 July 2006. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
^ Lev Grossman (13 December 2006). "You – Yes, You – Are TIME's Person of the Year". Time. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
^ iReport
^ Rauchfleisch, Adrian; Artho, Xenia; Metag, Julia; Post, Senja; Schäfer, Mike S. (July 2017). "How journalists verify user-generated content during terrorist crises. Analyzing Twitter communication during the Brussels attacks". Social Media + Society. 3 (3): 205630511771788. doi:10.1177/2056305117717888. ISSN 2056-3051.
^ Schivinski, Bruno; Muntinga, Daan G.; Pontes, Halley M.; Lukasik, Przemyslaw (10 February 2019). "Influencing COBRAs: the effects of brand equity on the consumer's propensity to engage with brand-related content on social media" (PDF). Journal of Strategic Marketing. 29: 1–23. doi:10.1080/0965254X.2019.1572641. ISSN 0965-254X. S2CID 169721474.
^ Klausen, Jytte (9 December 2014). "Tweeting the Jihad: Social Media Networks of Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. 38 (1): 1–22. doi:10.1080/1057610x.2014.974948. hdl:10192/28992. ISSN 1057-610X. S2CID 145585333.

[Krumm_UGC-1] Krumm, John; Davies, Nigel; Narayanaswami, Chandra (October 2008). "User-Generated Content". IEEE Pervasive Computing. 7 (4): 10–11. doi:10.1109/MPRV.2008.85. ISSN 1558-2590.

[Berthon_43–62-2] Berthon, Pierre; Pitt, Leyland; Kietzmann, Jan; McCarthy, Ian P. (August 2015). "CGIP: Managing Consumer-Generated Intellectual Property". California Management Review. 57 (4): 43–62. doi:10.1525/cmr.2015.57.4.43. ISSN 0008-1256. S2CID 12234496.

[BBC-3] "The BBC May be the First Mainstream Industrial Medium to Adopt UCG". BBC News. 4 July 2006. Retrieved 2 April 2017.

[TIME-4] Lev Grossman (13 December 2006). "You – Yes, You – Are TIME's Person of the Year". Time. Retrieved 20 December 2012.

[5] Report

[6] Rauchfleisch, Adrian; Artho, Xenia; Metag, Julia; Post, Senja; Schäfer, Mike S. (July 2017). "How journalists verify user-generated content during terrorist crises. Analyzing Twitter communication during the Brussels attacks". Social Media + Society. 3 (3): 205630511771788. doi:10.1177/2056305117717888. ISSN 2056-3051.

[7] Schivinski, Bruno; Muntinga, Daan G.; Pontes, Halley M.; Lukasik, Przemyslaw (10 February 2019). "Influencing COBRAs: the effects of brand equity on the consumer's propensity to engage with brand-related content on social media" (PDF). Journal of Strategic Marketing. 29: 1–23. doi:10.1080/0965254X.2019.1572641. ISSN 0965-254X. S2CID 169721474.

[8] Klausen, Jytte (9 December 2014). "Tweeting the Jihad: Social Media Networks of Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. 38 (1): 1–22. doi:10.1080/1057610x.2014.974948. hdl:10192/28992. ISSN 1057-610X. S2CID 145585333.

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