The Digital Hollywood Conference in New York City was the event that triggered a number of online executives to say that Web publishers need to add to their user-generated content more of an element of professional content as well.
Sarah Bernard who used to be the general manager of the HuffingtonPost said: "You need that user-generated content to be more like professionally created content to succeed in the long run, after the fad goes away,"
Another, Jon Haber, account manager of innovations and entertainment for Initiative, added that putting in quality controls makes it easier to make media deals.
While I don't necessarily disagree with these statement overall, I do think it's a tilted picture they are representing. For example, the comment that user-generated content is a fad that will eventually go away, is probably more wishful thinking than based in reality. Although I do think that its consumption will decrease overall per person, I don't think it's going to go away as far as a fad would.
It's like the reality shows on TV, which when you really think of it, are nothing new at all. When Dick Clark's American Bandstand was on years ago, in essence its popularity was the dancers who had become nationwide celebrities and had huge fan followings, even though they were considered 'amateurs.' People are fascinated by the lives of other people, which is what reality TV and user-generated content is all about. That's not going to ever go away.
At the same time, what the executives are calling "professional content" won't go away either. People that watch reality shows don't necessarily stop watching other professionally acted shows.
The thing about quality controls said by Haber above goes against my grain somewhat though. That's just another way of saying lets eliminate the democratic side of the Internet. I think when you dig down into it, they don't like the potential competition that can spring up from anywhere at anytime.
The very nature and fun of user-generated content is its lack of controls and seeing lots of stuff happen as it is participated in. So-called quality controls would seriously damage what makes user-generated content so fun to watch.
The truth is that these two are going to continue on together and each will have its place and time to interact with. I don't think that will change anytime soon, if ever.
Remember to Sign up for my feed, bizzbite and digg this!
Comment Preview