View source for User-generated content

{{Short description|Online content created by users}}
{{Essay-like|date=September 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
[[File:Access Terminal (362738471).jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|An example of user-generated content, a personalised sign and objects in the virtual world of ''[[Second Life]]'']]

'''User-generated content''' ('''UGC'''), alternatively known as '''user-created content''' ('''UCC'''), emerged from the rise of web services which allow a system's [[User (computing)|users]] to create [[Content (media)|content]], such as images, videos, audio, text, testimonials, and software (e.g. [[Video game modding|video game mods]]) and interact with other [[User (computing)|users]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Naab |first1=T. K |last2=Sehl |first2=A |date=2017 |title=Studies of user-generated content: A systematic review |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884916673557 |journal=Journalism |volume=18 |issue=10 |pages=1256–1273 |doi=10.1177/1464884916673557 |via=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Roma |first1=Paolo |last2=Aloini |first2=Davide |date=2019-03-01 |title=How does brand-related user-generated content differ across social media? Evidence reloaded |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S014829631830609X |journal=Journal of Business Research |volume=96 |pages=322–339 |doi=10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.11.055 |hdl=11568/1000779 |issn=0148-2963|hdl-access=free }}</ref> Online [[News aggregator|content aggregation platform]]s such as [[social media]], discussion forums and [[wiki]]s by their interactive and social nature, no longer produce multimedia content but provide tools to produce, collaborate, and share a variety of content, which can affect the attitudes and behaviors of the audience in various aspects.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kang |first1=Kai |last2=Lu |first2=Jinxuan |last3=Guo |first3=Lingyun |last4=Li |first4=Wenlu |date=2021-02-01 |title=The dynamic effect of interactivity on customer engagement behavior through tie strength: Evidence from live streaming commerce platforms |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S026840122031450X |journal=International Journal of Information Management |volume=56 |article-number=102251 |doi=10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102251 |issn=0268-4012}}</ref> This transforms the role of consumers from passive spectators to active participants.<ref name=":0"/><ref name="Krumm UGC">{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1109/MPRV.2008.85| issn = 1558-2590| volume = 7| issue = 4| pages = 10–11| last1 = Krumm| first1 = John| last2 = Davies| first2 = Nigel| last3 = Narayanaswami| first3 = Chandra| title = User-Generated Content| journal = IEEE Pervasive Computing| date = October 2008| bibcode = 2008IPCom...7d8.85K}}</ref><ref name="Berthon 43–62">{{Cite journal|last1=Berthon|first1=Pierre|last2=Pitt|first2=Leyland|last3=Kietzmann|first3=Jan|last4=McCarthy|first4=Ian P.|date=August 2015|title=CGIP: Managing Consumer-Generated Intellectual Property|journal=California Management Review|volume=57|issue=4|pages=43–62|doi=10.1525/cmr.2015.57.4.43|s2cid=12234496|issn=0008-1256|url=http://summit.sfu.ca/item/18172}}</ref>

User-generated content is used for a wide range of applications, including problem processing, news, entertainment, customer engagement, advertising, gossip, research and  more. It is an example of the democratization of content production and the [[flat organization|flattening]] of traditional media hierarchies. The [[BBC]] adopted a user-generated content platform for its websites in 2005, and [[Time (magazine)|''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.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|title=The BBC May be the First Mainstream Industrial Medium to Adopt UCG|url=http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=2364|access-date=2 April 2017|agency=BBC News|date=4 July 2006}}</ref><ref name="TIME">{{cite magazine|author=Lev Grossman|date=13 December 2006|title=You – Yes, You – Are TIME's Person of the Year|magazine=Time|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1570810,00.html|access-date=20 December 2012}}</ref> [[CNN]] also developed a similar user-generated content platform, known as iReport.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs/ireport/|title=iReport|website=[[CNN]] }}</ref> There are other examples of news channels implementing similar protocols, especially in the immediate aftermath of a catastrophe or terrorist attack.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Rauchfleisch|first1=Adrian|last2=Artho|first2=Xenia|last3=Metag|first3=Julia|last4=Post|first4=Senja|last5=Schäfer|first5=Mike S.|date=July 2017|title=How journalists verify user-generated content during terrorist crises. Analyzing Twitter communication during the Brussels attacks|journal=Social Media + Society|volume=3|issue=3|pages=205630511771788|doi=10.1177/2056305117717888|issn=2056-3051|doi-access=free}}</ref> Social media users can provide key eyewitness content and information that may otherwise have been inaccessible.

Since 2020, there has been an increasing number of businesses who are utilizing User Generated Content (UGC) to promote their products and services. Several factors significantly influence how UGC is received, including the quality of the content, the credibility of the creator, and viewer engagement.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kim |first1=Mikyoung |last2=Song |first2=Doori |date=2018-01-02 |title=When brand-related UGC induces effectiveness on social media: the role of content sponsorship and content type |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02650487.2017.1349031 |journal=International Journal of Advertising |language=en |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=105–124 |doi=10.1080/02650487.2017.1349031 |issn=0265-0487}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Xia |last2=Burns |first2=Alvin C. |last3=Hou |first3=Yingjian |date=2017-04-03 |title=An Investigation of Brand-Related User-Generated Content on Twitter |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00913367.2017.1297273 |journal=Journal of Advertising |language=en |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=236–247 |doi=10.1080/00913367.2017.1297273 |issn=0091-3367}}</ref> These elements can impact users' perceptions and trust towards the brand, as well as influence the buying intentions of potential customers. UGC has proven to be an effective method for brands to connect with consumers, drawing their attention through the sharing of experiences and information on social media platforms.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zhuang |first1=W |last2=Zeng |first2=Q |last3=Zhang |first3=Y |last4=Liu |first4=C |last5=Fan |first5=W |date=2023 |title=What makes user-generated content more helpful on social media platforms? Insights from creator interactivity perspective |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0306457322003028 |journal=Information Processing & Management |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=103201 |doi=10.1016/j.ipm.2022.103201 |issn=0306-4573}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lou |first1=Chen |last2=Yuan |first2=Shupei |date=2019-01-02 |title=Influencer Marketing: How Message Value and Credibility Affect Consumer Trust of Branded Content on Social Media |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15252019.2018.1533501 |journal=Journal of Interactive Advertising |language=en |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=58–73 |doi=10.1080/15252019.2018.1533501 |issn=1525-2019}}</ref> 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,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Schivinski|first1=Bruno|last2=Muntinga|first2=Daan G.|last3=Pontes|first3=Halley M.|last4=Lukasik|first4=Przemyslaw|date=10 February 2019|title=Influencing COBRAs: the effects of brand equity on the consumer's propensity to engage with brand-related content on social media|journal=Journal of Strategic Marketing|volume=29|pages=1–23|doi=10.1080/0965254X.2019.1572641|s2cid=169721474|issn=0965-254X|url=https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/26176/3/26176.pdf}}</ref> allowing the dissemination of information at a rapid pace in the wake of an event.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Klausen|first=Jytte|date=9 December 2014|title=Tweeting the ''Jihad'': Social Media Networks of Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq|journal=Studies in Conflict & Terrorism|volume=38|issue=1|pages=1–22|doi=10.1080/1057610x.2014.974948|issn=1057-610X|hdl=10192/28992|s2cid=145585333|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

==Definition==
The advent of user-generated content marked a shift among media organizations from creating online content to providing facilities for [[amateur]]s to publish their own content.<ref name="Berthon 43–62"/> User-generated content has also been characterized as citizen media as opposed to the [[mass media|"packaged goods media" of the past century]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://battellemedia.com/archives/2006/12/packaged_goods_media_vs_conversational_media_part_one_updated | title = Packaged Goods Media vs. Conversational Media, Part One (Updated) |last=Battelle |first=John |author-link = John Battelle | date = 5 December 2006 | access-date = 23 August 2011}}</ref> Citizen Media is audience-generated [[feedback]] and news coverage.<ref name=Pavlik /> People give their reviews and share stories in the form of user-generated and user-uploaded audio and user-generated video.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ugcprinciples.com/ |title=Principles for User Generated Content Services |website=UGCprinciples.com |access-date=24 November 2014}}</ref> The former is a two-way process in contrast to the one-way distribution of the latter. Conversational or two-way media is a key characteristic of so-called [[Web 2.0]], which encourages the publishing of one's own content and commenting on other people's content.

The role of the passive audience, therefore, has shifted since the birth of [[new media]], and an ever-growing number of participatory users are taking advantage of these interactive opportunities, especially on the Internet, to create independent content. Grassroots experimentation then generated an innovation in sounds, artists, techniques, and associations with audiences, which then are being used in mainstream media.<ref>Jenkins, Henry (SODA), "Convergence Culture", New York University Press, New York</ref> The active, participatory, and creative audience is prevailing today with relatively accessible media, tools, and applications, and its culture is in turn affecting mass media corporations and global audiences.

The [[OECD|Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] (OECD) has defined three core variables for UGC:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/57/14/38393115.pdf|title=Working Party on the Information Economy – Participative Web: User-Created Content |website=Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223184408/http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/57/14/38393115.pdf|archive-date=December 23, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=OECD |url=https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/science-and-technology/participative-web-and-user-created-content_9789264037472-en |title=Participative Web and User-Created Content: Web 2.0, Wikis and Social Networking |date=2007 |publisher=Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |location=Paris |language=en |doi=10.1787/9789264037472-en|isbn=978-92-64-03746-5 }}</ref>

# '''Accessible Content''': User-generated content (UGC) is publicly produced through platforms located on the Internet and is available to any individual browsing such a publicly accessible website or a public social media account. There are other contexts where users must remain in a community or closed group to access and publish on such platforms (for example, wikis). This is a way of differentiating that although the content is accessible to the audience, there are certain restrictions for the users who generates the content.
# '''Creative effort''': Creative effort was put into creating the work or adapting existing works to construct a new one; i.e. users must add their own value to the work. UGC often also has a collaborative element to it, as is the case with websites that users can edit collaboratively. For example, merely copying a portion of a television show and posting it to an online video website (an activity frequently seen on the UGC sites) would not be considered UGC. However, uploading photographs, expressing one's thoughts in a blog post or creating a new music video could be considered UGC. Yet the minimum amount of creative effort is hard to define and depends on the context.
# '''Creation outside of professional routines and practices''': User-generated content is generally created outside of professional routines and practices. It often does not have an institutional or a commercial market context. In extreme cases, UGC may be produced by non-professionals without the expectation of profit or remuneration. Motivating factors include connecting with peers, achieving a certain level of fame, notoriety, or prestige, and the desire to express oneself.

== Media pluralism ==
{{Main|Media pluralism}}
According to [[Cisco]], in 2016 an average of 96,000 [[petabyte]]s was transferred monthly over the [[Internet]], more than twice as many as in 2012.<ref>Cisco Systems. 201. The Zettabyte Era: Trends and Analysis.</ref> In 2016, the number of active websites surpassed 1 billion, up from approximately 700 million in 2012.<ref>Internet Live Stats. 2017. Total number of websites.</ref> This means the content we like others currently have access to is even more diverse, incorporated, and unique than ever before.{{cn|date=September 2023}}

Reaching 1.66 billion daily active users in Q4 2019, [[Facebook]] has emerged as the most popular social media platform globally.<ref>TechCrunch. 2020. Facebook hits 2.5B users in Q4 but shares sink from slow profits. TechCrunch. Available at https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/29/facebook-earnings-q4-2019/. Accessed 18 February 2020.</ref> Other social media platforms are also dominant at the regional level such as: [[Twitter]] in [[Japan]], [[Naver]] in the [[South Korea|Republic of Korea]], [[Instagram]] (owned by Facebook) and [[LinkedIn]] (owned by [[Microsoft]]) in [[Africa]], [[VKontakte]] (VK) and [[Odnoklassniki]] (eng. ''Classmates'') in [[Russia]] and other countries in [[Central and Eastern Europe]], [[WeChat]] and [[Tencent QQ|QQ]] in [[China]].{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

However, a concentration phenomenon is occurring globally giving dominance to a few online platforms that become popular for some unique features they provide, most commonly for the added privacy they offer users through disappearing messages or [[end-to-end encryption]] (e.g. [[WhatsApp]], [[Snapchat]], [[Signal (messaging app)|Signal]], and [[Telegram (software)|Telegram]]), but they have tended to occupy niches and to facilitate the exchanges of information that remain rather invisible to larger audiences.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development Global Report 2017/2018|publisher=UNESCO|year=2018|url=http://www.unesco.org/ulis/cgi-bin/ulis.pl?catno=261065&set=005B2B7D1D_3_314&gp=1&lin=1&ll=1|pages=202}}</ref>

Production of freely accessible information has been increasing since 2012. In January 2017, [[Wikipedia]] had more than 43 million articles, almost twice as many as in January 2012. This corresponded to a progressive diversification of content and an increase in contributions in languages other than English. In 2017, less than 12 percent of Wikipedia content was in English, down from 18 percent in 2012.<ref>Wikimedia Foundation. 2017. Wikipedia Statistics. Available at https://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesWikipediaEN.htm.</ref> Graham, Straumann, and Hogan say that the increase in the availability and diversity of content has not radically changed the structures and processes for the production of knowledge. For example, while content on [[Africa]] has dramatically increased, a significant portion of this content has continued to be produced by contributors operating from [[North America]] and [[Europe]], rather than from Africa itself.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Digital Divisions of Labor and Informational Magnetism: Mapping Participation in Wikipedia.|last1=Graham|first1=Mark|last2=Staumann|first2=Ralph K.|last3=Hogan|first3=Bernie|publisher=Annals of the Association of American Geographers 105 (6): 1158–1178.|year=2015}}</ref>

==History==
The massive, multi-volume ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' was exclusively composed of user-generated content. In 1857, [[Richard Chenevix Trench]] of the [[London Philological Society]] sought public contributions throughout the English-speaking world for the creation of the first edition of the ''OED''.<ref>{{Cite video|last=tvochannel|title=Simon Winchester on His Book ''The Meaning of Everything'' |date=8 June 2012|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3SmOsbLays |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/c3SmOsbLays |archive-date=19 December 2021 |url-status=live|access-date=1 August 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> As Simon Winchester recounts:

<blockquote>So what we're going to do, if I have your agreement that we're going to produce such a dictionary, is that we're going to send out invitations, were going to send these invitations to every library, every school, every university, every book shop that we can identify throughout the English-speaking world... everywhere where English is spoken or read with any degree of enthusiasm, people will be invited to contribute words. And the point is, the way they do it, the way they will be asked and instructed to do it, is to read voraciously and whenever they see a word, whether it's a preposition or a sesquipedalian monster, they are to... if it interests them and if where they read it, they see it in a sentence that illustrates the way that that word is used, offers the meaning of the day to that word, then they are to write it on a slip of paper... the top left-hand side you write the word, the chosen word, the catchword, which in this case is 'twilight'. Then the quotation, the quotation illustrates the meaning of the word. And underneath it, the citation, where it came from, whether it was printed or whether it was in manuscript... and then the reference, the volume, the page and so on... and send these slips of paper, these slips are the key to the making of this dictionary, into the headquarters of the dictionary.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tvo.org//transcript/883597/video/archive/big-ideas/simon-winchester-on-his-book-the-meaning-of-everything|title=Transcript: Simon Winchester on his book The Meaning of Everything |date= Jul 23, 2005 |publisher=TVO.org}}</ref></blockquote>

In the following decades, hundreds of thousands of contributions were sent to the editors.

In the 1990s several electronic [[bulletin board systems]] were based on user-generated content. Some of these systems have been converted into websites, including the film information site [[IMDb]] which started as ''rec.arts.movies'' in 1990. With the growth of the [[World Wide Web]] the focus moved to websites, several of which were based on user-generated content, including Wikipedia (2001) and [[Flickr]] (2004).

User-generated [[Internet video]] was popularized by [[YouTube]], an [[online video platform]] founded by [[Chad Hurley]], [[Jawed Karim]] and [[Steve Chen]] in April 2005. It enabled the [[video streaming]] of [[MPEG-4 AVC]] (H.264) user-generated content from anywhere on the [[World Wide Web]].<ref name="Matthew">{{cite book |last1=Matthew |first1=Crick |title=Power, Surveillance, and Culture in YouTube™'s Digital Sphere |date=2016 |publisher=IGI Global |isbn=978-1466698567 |pages=36–37 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y-FmCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36}}</ref>

The [[BBC]] set up a pilot user-generated content team in April 2005 with 3 staff. In the wake of the [[7 July 2005 London bombings]] and the [[2005 Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal fire|Buncefield oil depot fire]], the team was made permanent and was expanded, reflecting the arrival in the mainstream of the [[citizen journalist]]. After the Buncefield disaster the BBC received over 5,000 photos from viewers. The BBC does not normally pay for content generated by its viewers.

In 2006, [[CNN]] launched [[CNN iReport]], a project designed to bring user-generated news content to CNN. Its rival [[Fox News Channel]] launched its project to bring in user-generated news, similarly titled "uReport". This was typical of major television news organizations in 2005–2006, who realized, particularly in the wake of the London 7 July bombings, that [[citizen journalism]] could now become a significant part of broadcast news.<ref name="BBC"/> [[Sky News]], for example, regularly solicits for photographs and videos from its viewers.

User-generated content was featured in ''Time'' magazine's 2006 [[Time Magazine Person of the Year|Person of the Year]], in which the person of the year was "you", meaning all of the people who contribute to user-generated media, including YouTube, Wikipedia and [[Myspace]].<ref name="TIME"/> A precursor to user-generated content uploaded on YouTube was ''[[America's Funniest Home Videos]]''.<ref name=Pavlik>{{cite book|last1=Pavlik|first1=John|title=Converging Media|date=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0199342303|pages=20, 140|edition=4th}}</ref>

==Motivation for creating UGC==
The benefits derived from user-generated content for the content host are clear, these include a low-cost promotion, positive impact on product sales, and fresh content. However, the benefit to the contributor is less direct. There are various theories behind the motivation for contributing user-generated content, ranging from altruistic, to social, to materialistic. Due to the high value of user-generated content, a number of sites use incentives to encourage their generation. These incentives can be generally categorized into implicit incentives and explicit incentives. Sometimes, users are also given monetary incentives to encourage them to create captivating and inspiring UGC.<ref name="TouunaGroup">Toluna:{{cite web|url=http://www.toluna-group.com/files/en/Whitepapers/Web%20Incentives%20Whitepaper.pdf|title=Mixing Financial, Social and Fun Incentives for Social Voting|access-date=3 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709193004/http://www.toluna-group.com/files/en/Whitepapers/Web%20Incentives%20Whitepaper.pdf|archive-date=9 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>
# '''Implicit incentives:''' Implicit incentives are not based on anything tangible and are related to users' motivations for creating and sharing content (UGC). Value motives are extrinsic purposes directly linked to sharing useful information and exchanging opinions about something relevant to the community. Likewise, users are motivated to solve a specific problem with the help of the shared knowledge of other users interacting on platforms such as [[YouTube]], [[Instagram]], [[TikTok]], and [[Twitter]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Halliday |first=Sue Vaux |date=2016-01-01 |title=User-generated content about brands: Understanding its creators and consumers |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0148296315003185 |journal=Journal of Business Research |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=137–144 |doi=10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.07.027 |hdl=2299/16723 |issn=0148-2963|hdl-access=free }}</ref> For example, a user creates a video on TikTok with doubts about how to use a product, and users interact by sharing their experiences. On the other hand, users can be socially motivated, through a social reward such as badges within social platforms. These badges are earned when users reach a certain level of participation which may or may not come with additional privileges. [[Yahoo! Answers]] is an example of this type of social incentive. The desire for social recognition, such as popularity or respect within a community, is closely tied to personal fulfillment and the enhancement of one's social standing. Social incentives cost the host site very little and can catalyze vital growth; however, their very nature requires a sizable existing community before it can function. [[Naver|Naver Knowledge-iN]] is another example of this type of social incentive. It uses a point system to encourage users to answer more questions by receiving points.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Nam |first1=Kevin Kyung |last2=Ackerman |first2=Mark S. |last3=Adamic |first3=Lada A. |chapter=Questions in, knowledge in?: A study of naver's question answering community |date=2009-04-04 |title=Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems |chapter-url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1518701.1518821 |series=CHI '09 |location=New York, NY, USA |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery |pages=779–788 |doi=10.1145/1518701.1518821 |isbn=978-1-60558-246-7}}</ref> The desire for social recognition, such as popularity or respect within a community, is closely tied to personal fulfillment and enhancing one's social standing.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chen |first1=Yan |last2=Harper |first2=F. Maxwell |last3=Konstan |first3=Joseph |last4=Li |first4=Sherry Xin |date=2010-09-01 |title=Social Comparisons and Contributions to Online Communities: A Field Experiment on MovieLens |url=https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/aer.100.4.1358 |journal=American Economic Review |language=en |volume=100 |issue=4 |pages=1358–1398 |doi=10.1257/aer.100.4.1358 |issn=0002-8282}}</ref> The identification motivation has strong external standardization and internalization of behavioral goals, such as social identity, that is, users will follow some subjective norms and images to constrain and practice their behaviors. The integration has the strongest external standardization and goal internalization, and the agent often integrates its actual actions with the subjective norms of the environment, so it has the effect of self-restraint and self-realization, such as the sense of belonging.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Park |first1=Do-Hyung |last2=Lee |first2=Sungwook |date=2021-08-27 |title=UGC Sharing Motives and Their Effects on UGC Sharing Intention from Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives: Focusing on Content Creators in South Korea |journal=Sustainability |language=en |volume=13 |issue=17 |pages=9644 |doi=10.3390/su13179644 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2021Sust...13.9644P |issn=2071-1050}}</ref>
# '''Explicit incentives:''' These incentives refer to tangible rewards. Explicit incentives can be split into externality and projection. External motivation is more inclined to economic and material incentives, such as the reward for engaging in a task, which has little internalization and lacks relevant external norms and constraints. Examples include financial payment, entry into a contest, a voucher, a coupon, or frequent traveler miles. Direct explicit incentives are easily understandable by most and have immediate value regardless of the community size; sites such as the Canadian shopping platform Wishabi and [[Amazon Mechanical Turk]] both use this type of financial incentive in slightly different ways to encourage users participation. The projective agent has some external norms, but the degree of internalization is not enough, that is, it has not been fully recognized by the actor. The drawback to explicit incentives is that they may cause the user to be subject to the overjustification effect, eventually believing the only reason for participating is for the explicit incentive. This reduces the influence of the other form of social or altruistic motivation, making it increasingly costly for the content host to retain long-term contributors.<ref name="wisdump">wisdump:{{cite web |url=http://www.wisdump.com/web/the-overjustification-effect-and-user-generated-content/|title=The Overjustification Effect and User Generated Content|accessdate=3 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100315151840/http://www.wisdump.com/web/the-overjustification-effect-and-user-generated-content/|archive-date=15 March 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Paid content ==
{{More citations needed|section|date=February 2025}}
A growing subset of user-generated content (UGC) in this field is Paid UGC. It’s primarily used by brands and businesses looking for organic content to leverage authenticity, perspective of their customers and trust associated with user generated content (UGC) for marketing purposes. According to several studies, a large percent of millennials and younger consumers look up information on products through social media and see UGC before making a purchase decision. Research suggests 78% of [[millennials]] and 70% of [[Generation Z|Gen-Z]] rely on UGC to determine their purchasing decision.

Paid UGC is distinct from normal UGC through how it’s created. It’s created by a UGC Creator, someone who creates authentic looking content  on a product or service by brand’s request. In return, they receive compensation in form of monetary rewards, free products, discounts, exclusive access or other valuable incentives. It is not to be confused with [[influencer marketing]]. 

Unlike influencers, UGC developers focus on creating organic product reviews and the content isn’t shared on their personal pages and on the company’s page instead. On the other hand, influencers have a strong connection with their audience, showcasing branded content on their social media feeds and directly engaging with their followers. The structure of work differs since influencer deals are more comprehensive and agreements include creating and distributing content across their personal platforms.

However, it’s possible for UGC Creators to function as macro-influencers if they have 100k+ followers. In this case, they can accept influencer deals where they post on their personal page in exchange for money or UGC deals where the brands post on their own page.

There are several ways where paid UGC differs from non-paid UGC:

# Incentive - Paid UGC Creators receive compensation for their contributions while non-paid UGC is created voluntarily by their customers
# Control - Brands can give specific guidelines and request what content they want the user to make, ensuring content aligns with the marketing objective
# Posting Channel - Unpaid UGC is posted unsolicited by customers on their profile while Paid UGC is posted directly on the brand’s profile

Companies leveraging paid UGC see increased credibility with their platform, as customers connect with creators who feel like everyday people facing similar challenges. By showcasing the product as a real solution to a relatable problem, UGC makes brands more trustworthy and authentic. With commercial ads, customers can’t put a face behind the high production edits and don’t connect with it. A survey showcases that UGC is 85% better at increasing conversion rates than any studio content.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Offerpop Survey Identifies Gaps between How Consumers and Marketers Think about User-Generated Content |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160503005382/en/Offerpop-Survey-Identifies-Gaps-Consumers-Marketers-User-Generated |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250129034816/https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160503005382/en/Offerpop-Survey-Identifies-Gaps-Consumers-Marketers-User-Generated |archive-date=2025-01-29 |access-date=2025-02-27 |language=en}}</ref> This showcases the content's ability to impact and potential reasons why companies increasingly utilize it for their social media strategy. 

Nevertheless, there are concerns on the authenticity of content published on social media, particularly with the increasing prevalence of paid user generated content. Additionally, legal considerations such as copyright laws, privacy regulations and trademark protection play a role in content dissemination. As this field of work grows, there is potential for increased liability, particularly regarding disclosure requirements for paid content and will continue to evolve over time.

==Ranking and assessment==
The distribution of UGC across the [[World Wide Web|Web]] provides a high volume data source that is accessible for [[Data analysis|analysis]], and offers utility in enhancing the experiences of [[end user]]s. [[Social science]] research can benefit from having access to the opinions of a population of users, and use this data to make inferences about their traits. Applications in [[information technology]] seek to [[Data mining|mine end user data]] to support and improve machine-based processes, such as [[information retrieval]] and [[Recommender system|recommendation]]. However, processing the high volumes of data offered by UGC necessitate the ability to automatically sort and filter these data points according to their value.<ref name="Momeni et al (2016)">{{cite journal | last1 = Momeni | first1 = E. | last2 = Cardie | first2 = C. | author2-link = Claire Cardie | last3 = Diakopoulos | first3 = N. | year = 2016 | title = A Survey on Assessment and Ranking Methodologies for User-Generated Content on the Web | journal = ACM Computing Surveys  | volume = 48 | issue = 3| page = 41 | doi = 10.1145/2811282 | s2cid = 6302315 }}</ref>

Determining the value of user contributions for assessment and ranking can be difficult due to the variation in the quality and structure of this data. The quality and structure of the data provided by UGC is application-dependent, and can include items such as tags, reviews, or comments that may or may not be accompanied by useful [[metadata]]. Additionally, the value of this data depends on the specific task for which it will be utilized and the available features of the application domain. Value can ultimately be defined and assessed according to whether the application will provide service to a crowd of humans, a single end user, or a platform designer.<ref name="Momeni et al (2016)"/>

The variation of data and specificity of value has resulted in various approaches and methods for assessing and ranking UGC. The performance of each method essentially depends on the [[Feature selection|features and metrics]] that are available for analysis. Consequently, it is critical to have an understanding of the task objective and its relation to how the data is collected, structured, and represented in order to choose the most appropriate approach to utilizing it. The methods of assessment and ranking can be categorized into two classes: human-centered and machine-centered. Methods emphasizing human-centered utility consider the ranking and assessment problem in terms of the users and their interactions with the system, whereas the machine-centered method considers the problem in terms of [[machine learning]] and [[Computational science|computation]]. The various methods of assessment and ranking can be classified into one of four approaches: community-based, user-based, designer-based, and hybrid.<ref name="Momeni et al (2016)"/>
* '''Community-based approaches''' rely on establishing ground truth based on the [[wisdom of the crowd]] regarding the content of interest. The assessments provided by the community of end users is utilized to directly rank content within the system in human-centered methods. The machine-centered method applies these community judgments in training algorithms to automatically assess and rank UGC.
* '''User-based approaches''' emphasize the differences between individual users so that ranking and assessment can interactively adapt or be personalized given the particular requirements of each user.  The human-centered approach accentuates interactive [[User interface|interfaces]] where the user can define and redefine their preferences as their interests shift. On the other hand, machine-centered approaches model the individual user according to explicit and implicit knowledge that is gathered through system interactions.
* '''Designer-based approaches''' primarily use machine-centered methods to essentially maximize the diversity of content presented to users in order to avoid constraining the space of topic selections or perspectives. The diversity of content can be assessed with respect to various dimensions, such as authorship, topics, sentiments, and named entities.
* '''Hybrid approaches''' seek to combine methods from the various frameworks in order to develop a more robust approach for assessing and ranking UGC. Approaches are most often combined in one of two ways: the crowd-based approach is often used to identify [[hyperlocal]] content for a user-based approach, or a user-based approach is used to maintain the intent of a designer-based approach.

;Key concepts:
# Contribution is by users of a product rather than the firm
# Creative in nature and adds something new
# Posted online and generally accessible.

==Types==
There are a number of types of user-generated content: [[Internet forum]]s, where people talk about different topics; [[blog]]s are services where users can post about multiple topics, [[Review|product reviews]] on a supplier website or in social media; [[wiki]]s such as [[Wikipedia]] and [[Fandom (website)|Fandom]] allow users, sometimes including anonymous users, to edit the content. Another type of user-generated content are [[social networking site]]s like [[Facebook]], [[Instagram]], [[Tumblr]], [[Twitter]], [[Snapchat]], [[Twitch (service)|Twitch]], [[TikTok]] or [[VK (social network)|VK]], where users interact with other people via chatting, writing messages, posting images or links, and sharing content.  Media hosting sites such as [[YouTube]] and [[Vimeo]] allow users to post content. Some forms of user-generated content, such as a social commentary blog, can be considered as a form of [[citizen journalism]].

=== Blogs ===
{{See also|Blog#Types|label 1=Blog types}}

Blogs are websites created by individuals, groups, and associations. They mostly consist of journal-style text and enable interaction between a blogger and reader in the form of online comments.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Godwin-Jones|first=Robert|date=May 2003|title=Blogs and Wikis: Environments for online collaboration|url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/25195/07_02_emerging.pdf|journal=Language Learning & Technology|volume=7|number=2|pages=12–16|access-date=21 April 2019|archive-date=21 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421191813/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/25195/07_02_emerging.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Self-hosted blogs can be created by professional entities such as entrepreneurs and small businesses. Blog hosting platforms include [[WordPress]], [[Blogger]], and [[Medium (website)|Medium]]; [[Typepad]] is often used by media companies; [[Weebly]] is geared for [[online shopping]]. [[Social networking service|Social networking]] blogging platforms include Tumblr, [[LiveJournal]], and [[Weibo]]. Among the multiple blogs on the web, [[Boing Boing]] is a group blog with themes including [[technology]] and [[science fiction]]; [[HuffPost]] blogs include opinions on subjects such as politics, entertainment, and technology. There are also travel blogs such as [[Head for Points]], Adventurous Kate, and an early form of [[The Points Guy]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Street|first1=Francesca|title=World's top 10 travel influencers, according to Forbes|url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/forbes-travel-top-influencers/index.html|publisher=[[CNN]]|date=27 June 2017|access-date=30 April 2019}}</ref>

=== Websites ===
{{See also|Website#Types|label 1=Website types}}

Entertainment social media and information sharing websites include [[Reddit]], [[9gag]], [[4chan]], [[Upworthy]] and [[Newgrounds]].<ref>{{Cite web|title = How Ray Chan started 9GAG, and a career in fun|url = http://www.meldmagazine.com.au/2012/07/9-gag-ray-chan/|website = Meld Magazine – Melbourne's international student news website|date = 24 July 2012|access-date = 3 January 2016}}</ref> Sites like 9Gag allow users to create memes and quick video clips. Sites like Tech in Asia and [[BuzzFeed|Buzzfeed]] engage readers with professional communities by posting articles with user-generated comment sections.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Tech in Asia – Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem|url = https://www.techinasia.com/user-generated-content-media-indonesia-ugc|website = techinasia.com|access-date = 3 January 2016}}</ref> Other websites include [[fanfiction]] sites such as [[FanFiction.Net]]; [[imageboard]]s; artwork communities like [[DeviantArt]]; mobile photos and video sharing sites such as [[Picasa]] and [[Flickr]]; audio social networks such as [[SoundCloud]]; [[crowd funding]] or [[crowdsourcing]] sites like [[Kickstarter]], [[Indiegogo]], and [[ArtistShare]]; and customer [[review site]]s such as [[Yelp]].

After launching in the mid-2000s, major UGC-based adult websites like [[Pornhub]], [[YouPorn]] and [[xHamster]] and became the dominant mode of consumption and distribution of pornographic content on the internet. The appearance of pornographic content on sites like Wikipedia and Tumblr led moderators and site owners to institute stricter limits on uploads.<ref>{{cite news |last1=York |first1=Jillian C. |title=Silicon Valley's puritanical war on sex |url=https://www.salon.com/2021/03/27/silicon-valleys-puritanical-war-on-sex/ |access-date=27 March 2021 |work=Salon.com |date=27 March 2021}}</ref>

The restaurant industry has also been altered by a review system the places more emphasis on online reviews and content from peers than traditional media reviews. In 2011 [[Yelp]] contained 70% of reviews for restaurants in the Seattle area compared to ''[[Food & Wine]]'' Magazine containing less than 5 percent.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Handbook of media economics. Volume 1B|editor1=Anderson, Simon P.|editor2=Waldfogel, Joel|editor3=Strömberg, David|date = 2016|isbn=978-0-444-63691-1|location=Amsterdam, the Netherlands|publisher=Elsevier Science|oclc=932322941}}{{page needed|date=November 2023}}</ref>

===Video games===
[[Video game]]s can have [[fan-made]] content in the form of [[Mod (video gaming)|mods]], [[fan patch]]es, [[Fan translation of video games|fan translations]] or [[server emulator]]s.<ref>[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-11-02-youre-in-charge You're in charge! – From vital patches to game cancellations, players are often intimately involved.] by Christian Donlan on [[Eurogamer]] ''"Supreme Commander fans released Forged Alliance Forever and gave the game the online client it could otherwise only dream of. I haven't played it much, but I still got a tear in my eye when I read about the extents these coders had gone to. There's nothing quite so wonderful to witness as love, and this is surely love of the very purest order. [...] SupCom guys resurrect a series whose publisher had just gone under."'' (2 November 2013)</ref> Some games come with [[level editor]] programs to aid in their creation. A few [[massively multiplayer online game]]s including ''[[Star Trek Online]]'', ''[[Dota 2]]'', and ''[[EverQuest 2]]'' have UGC systems integrated into the game itself.<ref name="MMORPG.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/8818 |title=The 5 Best User Generated Content Systems in MMOs |last1=Jagneaux |first1=David |date=18 August 2014 |website=MMORPG.com |publisher=Cyber Creations Inc. |access-date=19 August 2014}}</ref> A [[metaverse]] can be a user-generated world, such as ''[[Second Life]]''.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}} ''Second Life'' is a 3-D virtual world which provides its users with tools to modify the game world and participate in an economy, trading user content created via online creation for virtual currency.<ref>Andrew Lavalee  ''Now, Virtual Fashion Second Life Designers Make Real Money Creating Clothes For Simulation Game's Players'', [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB115888412923570768 The Wall Street Journal], 22 September 2006</ref>

===Retailers===
Some bargain hunting websites feature user-generated content, such as [[eBay]], [[Dealsplus]], and [[FatWallet]] which allow users to post, discuss, and control which bargains get promoted within the community. Because of the dependency of social interaction, these sites fall into the category of [[social commerce]].

===Educational===
[[Wikipedia]], a free encyclopedia, is one of the largest user-generated content databases in the world. Platforms such as [[YouTube]] have frequently been used as an instructional aide. Organizations such as the [[Khan Academy]] and the [[Green brothers]] have used the platform to upload series of videos on topics such as math, science, and history to help aid viewers master or better understand the basics. Educational [[podcast]]s have also helped in teaching through an audio platform. Personal websites and messaging systems like Yahoo Messenger have also been used to transmit user-generated educational content. There have also been web forums where users give advice to each other.

Students can also manipulate digital images or video clips to their advantage and tag them with easy to find keywords then share them to friends and family worldwide. The category of "student performance content" has risen in the form of discussion boards and chat logs. Students could write reflective journals and diaries that may help others.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://itdl.org/Journal/Oct_07/article02.htm|title=Teaching and Learning in the Web 2.0 Era: Empowering Students through Learner-Generated Content |last1=Lee |first1=Mark J. W. |last2=McLoughlin |first2=Catherine |date=October 2007 |publisher=International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080207113943/http://itdl.org/Journal/Oct_07/article02.htm |archive-date=7 February 2008 |access-date=27 May 2018}}</ref> The websites [[SparkNotes]] and [[Shmoop]] are used to summarize and analyze books so that they are more accessible to the reader.

===Photo sharing===
[[Photo sharing]] websites are another popular form of UGC. [[Flickr]] is a site in which users are able to upload personal photos they have taken and label them in regards to their "motivation".<ref name="Shirky2008">{{Cite book|title = Here Comes Everybody|last = Shirky|first = Clay|publisher = The Penguin Press|year = 2008}}</ref>{{rp|46}} Flickr not only hosts images but makes them publicly available for reuse and reuse with modification.<ref name="Shirky2008"/> [[Instagram]] is a social media platform that allows users to edit, upload and include location information with photos they post.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Manikonda|first1=Lydia|last2=Hu|first2=Yuheng|last3=Kambhampati|first3=Subbarao|title=Analyzing User Activities, Demographics, Social Network Structure and User-Generated Content on Instagram|date=29 October 2014|oclc=1106208719}}</ref> [[Panoramio.com]] and Flickr use metadata, such as GPS coordinates that allows for geographic placement of images.<ref>{{cite book | title=European Handbook of Crowdsourced Geographic Information | chapter =Chapter 21 Discussing thePotential of Crowdsourced Geographic Information for Urban Areas Monitoring Using the Panoramio Initiative: A Case Study in Rome, Italy | publisher=Ubiquity Press | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-909188-79-2 | jstor=j.ctv3t5r09 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv3t5r09 | access-date=21 September 2021 }}</ref>

=== Video sharing ===
Video sharing websites are another popular form of UGC. [[YouTube]] and [[TikTok]] allow users to create and upload videos.

==Effect on journalism==
The incorporation of user-generated content into mainstream [[journalism]] outlets is considered to have begun in 2005 with the [[BBC|BBC's]] creation of a user-generated content team, which was expanded and made permanent in the wake of the [[7 July 2005 London bombings]].<ref name="BBC" /> The incorporation of Web 2.0 technologies into news websites allowed user-generated content online to move from more social platforms such as [[MySpace]], [[LiveJournal]], and [[blog|personal blogs]], into the mainstream of online journalism, in the form of comments on news articles written by professional journalists, but also through surveys, content sharing, and other forms of citizen journalism.<ref name="Thurman">{{cite journal|last1=Thurman|first1=Neil|title=Forums for citizen journalists? Adoption of user-generated content initiatives by online news media|journal=New Media & Society|date=1 February 2008|volume=10|issue=1|pages=139–157|doi=10.1177/1461444807085325|s2cid=516873|url=http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/119/2/thurman_forums.pdf}}</ref>

Since the mid-2000s, journalists and publishers have had to consider the effects that user-generated content has had on how news gets published, read, and shared. A 2016 study on publisher business models suggests that readers of online news sources value articles written both by professional journalists, as well as users—provided that those users are experts in a field relevant to the content that they create. In response to this, it is suggested that online news sites must consider themselves not only a source for articles and other types of journalism but also a platform for engagement and feedback from their communities. The ongoing engagement with a news site that is possible due to the interactive nature of user-generated content is considered a source of sustainable revenue for publishers of online journalism going forward.<ref name="Zeng et al">{{cite journal|last1=Zeng|first1=Michael A.|last2=Dennstedt|first2=Bianca|last3=Koller|first3=Hans|title=Democratizing Journalism – How User-Generated Content and User Communities Affect Publishers' Business Models|journal=Creativity and Innovation Management|date=6 November 2016|volume=25|issue=5|pages=536–551|doi=10.1111/caim.12199|s2cid=157677395}}</ref>

Journalists are increasingly sourcing UGC from platforms, such as [[Facebook]] and [[TikTok]], as news shifts to a digital space.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Journalism changed forever by user-generated content|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160523083828.htm|access-date=2 September 2020|website=ScienceDaily|language=en}}</ref> This form of [[crowdsourcing]] can include using user content to support claims, using social media platforms to contact witnesses and obtain relevant images and videos for articles.<ref>{{Cite web|title=How Newsrooms Use User Generated Content|url=https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/our-research/how-newsrooms-use-user-generated-content|access-date=2 September 2020|website=Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism|language=en}}</ref>

==Use in marketing==
Companies can leverage user-generated content (UGC) to improve their products and services, through feedback obtained by users. Additionally, UGC can improve decision-making processes by strengthening potential consumers and guiding them toward purchasing and consumption decisions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Saura |first1=Jose Ramon |last2=Bennett |first2=Dag R. |date=2019 |title=A Three-Stage method for Data Text Mining: Using UGC in Business Intelligence Analysis |journal=Symmetry |language=en |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=519 |doi=10.3390/sym11040519 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2019Symm...11..519S |issn=2073-8994 }}</ref> An increasing number of companies have been employing UGC techniques into their marketing efforts, such as [[Starbucks]] with their "White Cup Contest" campaign where customers competed to create the best doodle on their cups.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/future-ugc-owned/307322/ | title = The Future of User-Generated Content is Owned | author = David Hunegnaw | date = 6 January 2017 | access-date = 2 April 2016}}</ref>

The effectiveness of UGC in marketing has been shown to be significant as well. For instance, the "[[Share a Coke]]" by [[Coca-Cola]] campaign in which customers uploaded images of themselves with bottles to social media attributed to a two percent increase in revenue. Of millennials, UGC can influence purchase decisions up to fifty-nine percent of the time, and eighty-four percent say that UGC on company websites has at least some influence on what they buy, typically in a positive way. As a whole, consumers place peer recommendations and reviews above those of professionals.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}

User-generated content (UGC) can enhance marketing strategies by gathering relevant information from users and directing social media advertising efforts toward UGC marketing, which functions similarly to influencer marketing. However, each serves different purposes and plays distinct roles.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Saura |first1=Jose Ramon |last2=Reyes-Menendez |first2=Ana |last3=Palos-Sanchez |first3=Pedro |last4=Filipe |first4=Ferrão |date=2019-09-30 |title=Discovering UGC Communities to Drive Marketing Strategies: Leveraging Data Visualization |url=https://www.jsod-cieo.net/journal-tsw/index.php/jtsw/article/view/199 |journal=Journal of Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being |language=en |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=261–272 |issn=2795-5044}}</ref> The distinction between UGC (User-Generated Content) creators and influencers lies primarily in their approaches to content creation. UGC creators are a varied range of individuals who share content based on their personal experiences with a product, service, or brand. They typically do not collaborate with specific brands, which lends authenticity to their posts and makes them relatable to their audience. In contrast, influencers have a significant and engaged following. They create branded content through sponsorships and paid partnerships with companies. Their role is to influence their followers' purchasing decisions, and their content is usually more polished and aligns closely with the branding and messaging of the companies they work with.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Romero-Rodriguez |first1=Luis M. |last2=Castillo-Abdul |first2=Bárbara |date=2023 |title=Toward state-of-the-art on social marketing research in user-generated content (UGC) and influencers |url=https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JMD-11-2022-0285/full/html |journal=Journal of Management Development |volume=42 |issue=6 |pages=425–435 |doi=10.1108/JMD-11-2022-0285 |issn=0262-1711}}</ref>

==Criticism==
The term "user-generated content" has received some criticism. The criticism to date has addressed issues of fairness, quality,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lukyanenko|first1=Roman|last2=Parsons|first2=Jeffrey|last3=Wiersma|first3=Yolanda|title=The IQ of the Crowd: Understanding and Improving Information Quality in Structured User-Generated Content|journal=Information Systems Research|date=2014|volume=25|issue=4|pages=669–689|doi=10.1287/isre.2014.0537}}</ref> privacy,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Memarovic|first=Nemanja|chapter=Public Photos, Private Concerns: Uncovering Privacy Concerns of User Generated Content Created Through Networked Public Displays |date=2015|pages=171–177 |title=Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Pervasive Displays|chapter-url=https://www.ifi.uzh.ch/dam/jcr:ffffffff-c29f-36ac-0000-000031153409/perdis2015-CR-01.pdf|doi=10.1145/2757710.2757739 |isbn=978-1-4503-3608-6 |s2cid=17746880|url=https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/110694/1/perdis2015-CR-01.pdf }}</ref> the sustainable availability of creative work and effort among legal issues namely related to intellectual property rights such as copyrights etc.

Some commentators assert that the term "user" implies an illusory or unproductive distinction between different kinds of "publishers", with the term "users" exclusively used to characterize publishers who operate on a much smaller scale than traditional mass-media outlets or who operate for free.<ref name="CritiqueUGC">{{cite news | title=Guardian Unlimited website: The trouble with user generated content | url=http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/organgrinder/2007/01/the_trouble_with_user_generate.html | access-date=10 February 2007 |work=The Guardian | location=London | first=Jemima | last=Kiss | date=3 January 2007}}</ref> Such classification is said to perpetuate an unfair distinction that some argue is diminishing because of the prevalence and affordability of the means of production and publication. A better response{{According to whom|date=October 2010}} might be to offer optional expressions that better capture the spirit and nature of such work, such as EGC, Entrepreneurial Generated Content (see external reference below).{{Citation needed|date=September 2014}}

Sometimes creative works made by individuals are lost because there are limited or no ways to precisely preserve creations when a UGC Web site service closes down. One example of such loss is the closing of the Disney [[massively multiplayer online game]] "[[VMK]]". VMK, like most games, has items that are traded from user to user. A number of these items are rare within the game. Users are able to use these items to create their own rooms, avatars and pin lanyard. This site shut down at 10&nbsp;pm CDT on 21 May 2008. There are ways to preserve the essence, if not the entirety of such work through the users copying text and media to applications on their personal computers or recording live action or animated scenes using screen capture software, and then uploading elsewhere. Long before the Web, creative works were simply lost or went out of publication and disappeared from history unless individuals found ways to keep them in personal collections.{{Citation needed|date=September 2014}}

Another criticized aspect is the vast array of user-generated product and service reviews that can at times be misleading for consumer on the web. 
A study conducted at [[Cornell University]] found that an estimated 1 to 6 percent of positive user-generated online hotel reviews are fake.<ref>{{cite news|last1=White|first1=Martha C.|title=Be Wary of Awesome and Scathing Online Reviews|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/be-wary-awesome-scathing-online-reviews-n72116|access-date=25 November 2014|agency=NBC News|date=7 April 2014}}</ref>

Another concern of platforms that rely heavily on user-generated content, such as Twitter and Facebook, is how easy it is to find people who holds the same opinions and interests in addition to how well they facilitate the creation of networks or closed groups.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Du|first1=Siying|last2=Gregory|first2=Steve|title=Complex Networks & Their Applications V |chapter=The Echo Chamber Effect in Twitter: Does community polarization increase? |year=2016|volume=693|series=Studies in Computational Intelligence|publisher=Springer, Cham|pages=373–378|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-50901-3_30|isbn=978-3319509006}}</ref> While the strength of these services are that users can broaden their horizon by sharing their knowledge and connect with other people from around the world, these platforms also make it very easy to connect with only a restricted sample of people who holds similar opinions (see [[Filter bubble]]).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bowell|first=Tracy|date=12 May 2017|title=Response to the editorial 'Education in a post-truth world'|journal=Educational Philosophy and Theory|volume=49|issue=6|pages=582–585|doi=10.1080/00131857.2017.1288805|issn=0013-1857|doi-access=free}}</ref>

There is also criticism regarding whether or not those who contribute to a platform should be paid for their content. In 2015, a group of 18 famous content creators on Vine attempted to negotiate a deal with Vine representatives to secure a $1.2 million contract for a guaranteed 12 videos a month.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/10/paying-viners-millions-wouldnt-have-saved-vine.html|title=Could Paying Millions of Dollars to Creators Have Saved Vine?|last=Kircher|first=Madison Malone|website=Intelligencer|date=31 October 2016 |language=en-us|access-date=15 April 2020}}</ref> This negotiation was not successful.

==Legal issues==
The ability for services to accept user-generated content opens up a number of legal concerns, from the broader sense to specific local laws. In general, knowing who committed the online crime is difficult because many use pseudonyms or remain anonymous. Sometimes it can be traced back. But in the case of a public coffee shop, they have no way of pinpointing the exact user. There is also a problem with the issues surrounding extremely harmful but not legal acts. For example, the posting of content that instigates a person's suicide. It is a criminal offense if there is proof of "beyond reasonable doubt" but different situations may produce different outcomes.<ref name="auto">{{Cite journal|last1=George|first1=Carlisle|last2=Scerri|first2=Jackie|date=24 April 2018|title=Web 2.0 and User-Generated Content: Legal Challenges in the New Frontier|journal=Journal of Information, Law and Technology|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228245517}}</ref> Depending on the country, there is certain laws that come with the Web 2.0. In the United States, the "[[Section 230]]" exemptions of the [[Communications Decency Act]] state that "no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." This clause effectively provides a general immunity for websites that host user-generated content that is defamatory, deceptive or otherwise harmful, even if the operator knows that the third-party content is harmful and refuses to take it down. An exception to this general rule may exist if a website promises to take down the content and then fails to do so.<ref name=cw-goaway>{{cite news|title=Is 'go away' the best response to complaints about user-generated content?|url=http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9179594/Is_go_away_the_best_response_to_complaints_about_user_generated_content_?taxonomyId=14|access-date=22 July 2014|work=Computerworld|date=23 July 2010}}</ref>

===Copyright laws===
[[Copyright]] laws also play a factor in relation to user-generated content, as users may use such services to upload works—particularly videos—that they do not have the sufficient rights to distribute. In multiple cases, the use of these materials may be covered by local "[[fair use]]" laws, especially if the use of the material submitted is [[transformative]].<ref name=eff-fuprinciples>{{cite web|title=Fair Use Principles for User Generated Video Content|date=30 October 2007|url=https://www.eff.org/pages/fair-use-principles-user-generated-video-content|publisher=[[Electronic Frontier Foundation]]|access-date=22 July 2014}}</ref> Local laws also vary on who is liable for any resulting [[copyright infringement]]s caused by user-generated content; in the United States, the [[Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act]] (OCILLA)—a portion of the [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act]] (DMCA), dictates [[Safe harbor (law)|safe harbor]] provisions for "[[online service provider]]s" as defined under the act, which grants immunity from [[secondary liability]] for the copyright-infringing actions of their users, as long as they promptly remove access to allegedly infringing materials upon the receipt of a [[Notice and take down|notice from a copyright holder or registered agent]], and they do not have [[actual knowledge]] that their service is being used for infringing activities.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/8696716.stm|title=Is YouTube's three-strike rule fair to users?|work=BBC News|date=21 May 2010|access-date=5 February 2012 | location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Anderson |first=Nate |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/why-the-feds-smashed-megaupload.ars |title=Why the feds smashed Megaupload |work=Ars Technica |date=10 November 2011 |access-date=22 January 2012}}</ref>

In the UK, the Defamation Act of 1996 says that if a person is not the author, editor or publisher and did not know about the situation, they are not convicted. Furthermore, ISPs are not considered authors, editors, or publishers and they cannot have responsibility for people they have no "effective control" over. Just like the DMCA, once the ISP learns about the content, they must delete it immediately.<ref name="auto"/> The European Union's approach is horizontal by nature, which means that civil and criminal liability issues are addressed under the [[Electronic Commerce Directive (EU)|Electronic Commerce Directive]]. Section 4 deals with liability of the ISP while conducting "mere conduit" services, caching and web hosting services.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Online Intermediaries and Liability for Copyright Infringement|journal=WIPO|url=https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/2305/1/wipo-onlineintermediaries.pdf|access-date=22 July 2014}}</ref>

==Research==
A study on YouTube analyzing one of the video on demand systems was conducted in 2007. The length of the video had decreased by two-fold from the non-UGC content but they saw a fast production rate. The user behavior is what perpetuates the UGC. The act of P2P (peer-to-peer) was studied and saw a great benefit to the system. They also studied the impact of content aliasing, sharing of multiple copies, and illegal uploads.<ref>[[Cha Meeyoung]] et al. "I tube, you tube, we tube, everybody tubes: analyzing the world's largest user generated content video system." ''Internet Measurement Conference'' (2007).</ref>

A study from [[York University]] in [[Ontario]] in 2012 conducted research that resulted in a proposed framework for comparing brand-related UGC and to understand how the strategy used by a company could influence the brand sentiment across different social media channels including YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. The three scholars of this study examined two clothing brands, Lulu Lemon and American Apparel. The difference between these two brands is that Lulu Lemon had a social media following while American Apparel was the complete opposite with no social media following. Unsurprisingly, Lulu Lemon had much more positive contributions compared to American Apparel which had less positive contributions. Lulu Lemon has three times the number of positive contributions, 64 percent vs 22 percent for American Apparel on Twitter while on Facebook and YouTube, they had roughly an equal number of contributions. This proves that social media can influence how a brand is perceived, usually in a more positive light.<ref>{{cite journal |title=How Does Brand-related User-generated Content Differ across YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter? |journal=Journal of Interactive Marketing |year=2012 |last1=Smith |first1=Andrew |last2=Fischer |first2=Eileen |last3=Yongjian |first3=Chen |doi=10.1016/j.intmar.2012.01.002 |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=102–113}}</ref> A study by Dhar and Chang, published in 2007, found that the volume of blogs posted on a music album was positively correlated with future sales of that album.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Does Chatter Matter? The Impact of User-Generated Content on Music Sales.|last1 = Dhar|first1 = Vasant|date = November 2009|journal = Journal of Interactive Marketing|volume = 23|doi = 10.1016/j.intmar.2009.07.004|last2 = Chang|first2 = Elaine|issue = 4|pages = 300–307|s2cid = 245880964|url = http://archive.nyu.edu/handle/2451/23783}}</ref>

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* {{annotated link|Carr–Benkler wager}}
* ''{{annotated link|Cognitive Surplus}}''
* {{annotated link|Collective intelligence}}
* {{annotated link|Communal marketing}}
* {{annotated link|Consumer generated marketing}}
* {{annotated link|Content creation}}
* {{annotated link|Content moderation}}
* {{annotated link|Creative Commons}}
* {{annotated link|Crowdsourcing}}
* {{annotated link|Customer engagement}}
* {{annotated link|Digital public square}}
* {{annotated link|Fan art}}
* {{annotated link|Fan fiction}}
* {{annotated link|List of online image archives}}
* {{annotated link|Modding}}
* {{annotated link|Networked information economy}}
* {{annotated link|Participatory culture}}
* {{annotated link|Participatory design}}
* {{annotated link|Prosumer}}
* {{annotated link|User-centered design}}
* {{annotated link|User-generated TV}}
* {{annotated link|User innovation}}
* {{annotated link|Web 2.0}}
{{div col end}}

== General sources ==
{{Free-content attribution
|title=World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development Global Report 2017/2018|author=University of Oxford|publisher=UNESCO|page numbers=202|source=|documentURL=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0026/002610/261065e.pdf|license statement URL=http://www.unesco.org/ulis/cgi-bin/ulis.pl?catno=261065&set=005B2A1A4F_2_135&gp=1&lin=1&ll=1|license=CC BY SA 3.0 IGO}}

== Citations ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Scholia}}
* [http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/57/14/38393115.pdf OECD study on the Participative Web: User Generated Content]
* [https://www.theguardian.com/weekend/page/0,,1939196,00.html A Bigger Bang]{{snd}}an overview of the UGC trend on the Web in 2006
* [https://hbr.org/2016/03/branding-in-the-age-of-social-media Branding in the Age of Social Media]
* [https://theugc.agency/ugc/ UGC & Examples] - Information and statistics on User-Generated Content (UGC) in marketing.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:User-Generated Content}}
[[Category:User-generated content| ]]
[[Category:Collective intelligence]]
[[Category:Digital media]]
[[Category:New media]]
[[Category:Video game design]]