I’ve gotten a few notes from people that have their doubts about the power of consumer generated content, saying that it television didn’t destroy radio or the internet has completely destroyed either. Yet, one only has to look as far as MySpace to recognize that the power of content generation has shifted into the hands of the end-user.
Saul Hansell’s overview of MySpace’s rise in the New York Times stated that the site is now ranked second in number of page views, with 28.8 billion last month, only behind Yahoo. Combine MySpace’s popularity with video sites, such as YouTube and CurrentTV, and you’ve got more going on than a small trend. The lines between consumer and producer have blurred.
Besides Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. many media companies are reacting to consumer generated content similar to what that Grant McCracken describes as their reaction to blogs (which is another powerful example of consumer generated content, in itself):
Stage 1. Benign neglect
Stage 2. Lordly disdain
Stage 3. Irritation plus Obfuscation
Stage 4. Panic! Attack! Panic Attack!
As the dynamic changes happening all around us continue to accelerate, traditional media companies and brands, in general, must take steps toward building a deeper relationship with these newly empowered producer/consumers. In this new era, it is the creative citizens of a community — the people and the companies — that will survive and thrive by co-creating honest, original and relevant media and products.
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