What is great news for the Internet brands that are growing the quickest? It is all about empowering the people. What's great about that is companies are beginning to understand the importance of focusing only on the consumer. This is what the user-generated content sites have been doing in a very successful way.
Nielsen//NetRatings earlier this month reported its research results showing that 50% of the fastest growing online brands are sites that are user-generated.
Jon Gibs, the firm's director of media analytics said: "User-generated content sites have seen significant growth over the past year, owing in large part to their reliance on viral marketing, they also benefit from their cost effectiveness -- the content is practically free."
This growth is being experienced across all size companies in this space. Even MySpace, with its size, grew at a 183 percent rate from July of 2005 to July of 2006.
Anything that includes photo sharing, blogging, or video sharing is growing exponentially.
As online marketers, we need to develop and experiment with ways to differentiate ourselves with this specific trend. The growth will eventually slow down and there will be a market correction. This happens in any business area with this type of growth.
Those who understand this will be prepared to continue growing at a steadier pace and tap user-generated content for years. This isn't going to go away; it's only just beginning.
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