derek powazek lambasting the term 'user-generated content' reminds me of my complaints about the term blogs. obviously his is much more clever and he actually suggests an alternative.
however, calling things authentic is too much of an endorsement for my liking. i happen to like the term user-generated content. that's exactly what it is. because of all the linking and tagging, one has to question how much is so 'authentic'. 'user-generated' lets you know someone is behind the work and that it truly is generated--that is, it may not be totally original or authentic, but someone has put their own spin on it and put it out there for the world to see.
honestly i think user-generated is a friendly term for some of this. generated implies that something has been created. what does a blog imply? someone was finally motivated enough to put their moans and groans in writing?
people love to name and re-name and nickname the most obscure things, so, with a movement as large as the now infamous UGC, i'm sure some alternatives will start to pop up. so until then, hang in there derek.
3 comments:
I can't really agree with you when it comes to arguing the title of UGC. I do agree that UGC is growing into a HUGE enterprise and mode of communication. But in this we must realize that it is not a stagnant thing, it has changed over time and thus must be catagorized. One of the distinctions is not being filtered through a corporation, and thus the title "authentic media".
I share your contempt of the word 'blog'. It's a very unpleasant word, and you're right, most of the content on 'blogs' is really god-awful.
But anyways, I digress. I think I understand what you mean when you say that not all UGC is "authentic media" . While it is certainly de-centralized, almost all UGC does have a bias in some way. So maybe UGC is more appropriate than the term "authentic media".
As much as I hated the term "user-generated content" I think I hate "authentic media" more.
That phrase certainly does traditional marketing a disservice by implying that their media is chock full of lies (which usually is the case but anyway).
Another problem I have with the phrase "authentic media" that using UGC covers is that not all UGC can have an aspect of authenticity. Sometimes things are actually cut and dry. For example (as I mentioned I think on Tim's blog) there are people who create items for computer games to increase or extend the freshness of a game for instance The Sims.
Those items are certainly UGC because they weren't created by Maxis or even EA they were just made by some more than average Joe.
But are they authentic media? The truth of the item would be at the same standard if Joe made it or Maxis made it.
To sum it up: I think the two phrases tend to veer off in two different directions.
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