The media world is awash with talk of user-generated content (UGC). Particularly for the IAB,this is a subject of huge relevance, and one which we’ve found more and more advertisers in the UK want (and need) to know about.

This section is a guide to all things UGC. These pages will provide you with the background and context for its various executions and we’ll also identify the latest news stories, the key players, main developments and examples of where brands have embraced the phenomenon to various degrees of success.

What is user-generated content?

It’s a simple concept and fairly self-explanatory term. The IAB defines UGC as digital content created by consumers rather than media owners or publishers. This can include:

• Written reviews or recommendations online - a huge number of sites now offer theirvistors the option to do this.
• Posting comments -popular on news sites.
• Blog - a regularly updated online journal.
• Podcast - a downloadable audio file, suitable for an mp3 player.
• Uploading personal information - on a social networking site such as MySpace, Beboor Facebook.
• Pictures - like those available on Flickr.
• Video clips - on sites such as Google’s new acquisition YouTube.
• Contributions to site in the form of shared factual information - a Wiki.
• The referencing or tagging of useful/relevant sites for other internet users - de.lic.io.us.com for example.

In the main, consumers are able to generate content online for free and can exploit the viral (word-of-mouth) properties of the internet to share this content, making it available to view by any other internet user.

UGC is an exciting phenomenon, and represents a significant sea-change in consumer behaviour. On the official website of Tim Berners-Lee, the brains behind the internet we know and love, he outlines his original plan for the World Wide Web. His dream was of a 'commoninformation space in which we communicate by sharing information; a realistic mirror of the ways in which we work and play and socialise'. That's quite some dream, but the exponential growth of UGC means that it was by no means unrealistic.

UGC is a key characteristic of this so-called era of web 2.0 (an exploration of which could form a report in itself) but put simply, it describes the ‘next generation’ of online use. Web 2.0 identifies the consumer as a major contributor in the evolution of the internet into a two-way medium. It emphasises the fact that UGC is here to stay, and therefore must at least be understood by marketers hoping to keep up with their consumers.

What’s in a name?

The phrase user-generated content has, surprisingly, provoked a great deal of debate due to its apparently clinical and ambiguous terminology. This blog posting below, entitled ‘Death to User-Generated Content’ provides a perfect example:

Dear internet

Can I make a suggestion? Let's all stop using the phrase "user-generated content." I'm serious. It's a despicable, terrible term. Let's deconstruct it.

User: One who uses. Like, you know, a junkie.

Generated: Like a generator, engine. Like, you know, a robot.

Content: Something that fills a box. Like, you know, packing peanuts.

So what's user-generated content? Junkies robotically filling boxes with packing peanuts. Lovely.

Lately the notion that the web is about "user-generated content" has been getting more traction. With the success of MySpace and Flickr, pundits are looking for a trend. And they've found one in this hateful phrase. But "user-generated content" is nothing new online. In fact, it's what the network was designed for.

So let's not give in to the buzzphrase du jour. Let's use the real words. Those people posting to Amazon pages? They're writing reviews. Those folks on Flickr? They're making photographs. And if we must have an umbrella term to describe the whole shebang, I have a suggestion. Try this on for size: Authentic Media.

Authentic media comes to you unfiltered by the global brands and conglomerates that have taken over the mainstream media. Authentic media is the raw, first-person narrative you can find on blogs and homepages. Authentic media is what happens when the mediators get out of the way and give the mic over to the people who actually have something to say.

The best part about this phrase? It paints the rest of the mediascape as inauthentic. I can live with that.

- Taken from Powazek, Just a Thought

This blog attempts to spark an interesting debate, and the author is what can be described as a ‘purist’ – an internet user that sees the medium as a channel through which the main exchange should be pure information and unbranded content, often shunning its commercial aspects. The views of purists are incredibly important and should be considered from a marketing perspective, however they do not reflect the views of the online population as a whole.

Whilst user-generated content is perhaps the most commonly-used term, this does not necessarily mean it is a perfect fit for the behaviour, processes and implications of what it describes. As well as ‘authentic media’ described above, some favour ‘consumer-generated content’, particularly with regard to marketing - why would the fact that internet users generate their own content online be relevant unless they were consumers? Indeed, the results of a successfully executed UGC campaign could include brand preference or loyalty, the establishment of a dialogue or relationship with your consumer, and even in some cases a whole new brand experience largely determined by the consumers themselves. In this sense, the word ‘user’ would seem to be an inappropriate choice.

‘Social media’ is another way to describe the process of consumers generating and sharing content online, as well as its different manifestations. Consumer-generated media (CGM) is the term used by US-based research company Nielsen Buzzmetrics who enable brands to measure and leverage CGM and the influence of online word-of-mouth. However this is not UGC in its purest form, but describes content which specifically relates to brands or the experience of a product or service. Nielsen Buzzmetrics describe CGM as “high-impact media generated by consumers, typically informed by relevant experience with products and services and archived online for ready consumption by other consumers or key marketplace influencers.”



For consistency, we will use the term user-generated content (UGC) throughout this report, however please feel free to carry on the UGC/CGC/CGM/SM debate on our site.

Why is user-generated content relevant for you?

According to the BBC in July 2006, a third of children use blogs and social networking sites but around two-thirds of parents don’t even know what they are. Unlike traditional media, awareness of UGC is not widespread across the entire UK population, and not everyone will have experienced it firsthand. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to reach the vast audiences that TV allows in one 30- second hit through the use of UGC, but this isn’t the reason for using UGC in the first place. If you exploit the medium correctly, those consumers you do reach could potentially engage with your brand in ways scarcely imaginable before the internet. In this new era of marketing and media consumption, there is far greater emphasis on permission and invitation, with consumers showing less patience for interruptive, intrusive and unimaginative ads. It was only a matter of time, really.

The youth of today in particular have grown up with the internet, and few differentiate between their online and offline lives. This is what OMD Insight, in association with Yahoo! refer to as the My Media Generation, a generation ‘empowered’ by interactive media. Furthermore, they are “no longer receptive to passive media experiences – in fact, they’re quickly adopting the role of ‘chief programmer’ for their own world of personal media.”

Michael Wolf, MTV President and Chief Operating Officer, confirms this stating that: “We know our audiences are into user-generated content, social networking and gaming”. There’s a good chance that your audiences are, too, but it’s not just the ‘MTV demographic’ that you can reach through a UGC campaign – apparently more than half of Myspace users are over 35. You’ve already heard of MySpace, Bebo, Youtube and Flickr (if not, where have you been?!) but user-generated content has been around for years.

The success of sites such as Amazon and Ebay relies on user interaction, and Friends Reunited - the original mainstream social networking site - launched way back in July 2000. Are you intrigued and slightly startled by the phenomenal growth of YouTube? Remember that ‘You’ve Been Framed’ first aired on ITV in 1990, with Jeremy Beadle declaring every week, "Next time, the star of the show could be you!" Of course the programme is edited (and people are paid £250 for their contributions) but the show relied on content generated and submitted by consumers, and its popularity is evident by the fact that 16 years later, it’s still Saturday night TV. Think of YouTube as a sophisticated ‘You’ve Been Framed’; it still has the usual clips of cats doing backflips and satisfies some of those ‘famous for 3-5 minutes’ urges of the general public, but also has an essential serious side, one which will be discussed later in the report.

However, it takes a great deal more than awareness of the biggest sites and their popularity to successfully tap into the power of UGC. What success in this sector requires is an understanding of the consumer’s need to share, to contribute and make something their own. To talk about themselves - their likes, dislikes, interests, hopes, achievements, information and expertise - but also to hear what other people have to say, too. The internet facilitates this basic need, and that’s where you come in. Executed in the right way, a brand has every opportunity to become a part of this world and enter a dialogue with the audience. Executed in the wrong way, well, here’s an example:

“It’s unfortunate that these things do happen. This in no way undermines ourcommitment as a department to dealing with serious issues and using new technologyto pioneer an open style of government.”

The words of a Defra spokeswoman, after internet users defaced Environment Secretary David Miliband’s blog when he actively encouraged public contribution. What was intended to mark a significant step in the formation of policy resulted in:

“Hi there. I’m David, Dave, Milliband. I’ve set up this big conversation in Cyberspace here to try and create a news story based around the fact that New Labour (and me especially) really want to think about the environment… Also, look at my beautiful face”.

Arguably not the best result for what was probably intended to be a largely collaborative and successful PR exercise, but an important lesson for us all.

Here’s another one. Try typing ‘McDonalds French fry Abraham Lincoln’ into your favourite search engine and take a look at the results.

This area of the site has been designed to take your understanding of UGC one step further, and in fact a great deal of the content has been sourced using blogs, community sites and online encyclopedias.

Underpinning these pages are a series of key learnings that advertisers should remember when planning to embrace UGC as a marketing tool or aid:

1. Understand your audience - where they are, what they do, and why.

2. Try and make your campaign social currency, so that it can live on far past its execution.

3. Ensure the campaign reflects your brand image and is in keeping with your brand values.

4. Try to ‘let your brand go’ online whilst at the same time managing and monitoring the process carefully so that consumers don’t undermine it.

5. Learn from any mistakes, and always consider feedback. Whether you like it or not, the consumer is the expert, and they’re probably almost always right.

The first step to success in the digital era is to understand (and appreciate) that consumer behaviour has changed, and it has changed because of the internet. This social media section of the IAB site will examine how, and what you can do to make the most of it.