User:Bettitea/sandbox

User generated content (UGC) is a civic activity involving creation and online sharing of texts in a variety of formats (comments, videos, audio files). This type of content is not generated by administrators of online sites, but by its users – therefore "user generated content". It can be also defined as a “content made publicly available over the Internet, which reflects a ‘certain amount of creative effort’, and which is ‘created outside of professional routines and practices" . That involves any user participation online; e.g., image sharing, commenting, blogging, video sharing, etc. Therefore, user generated content is part of participatory culture. Jenkins, Ford and Green in their publication Spreadable Media argue that in the era of Web 2.0, user generated content works as a substitute for mass media in cultural lives of everyday people . For instance, audiences might prefer watching YouTube videos, where they can choose from a wide variety of content, to watching a stream of television broadcast.

UGC in pre-digital world
Even though user generated content is closely linked to Web 2.0, Henry Jenkins argues that its early forms originated before the emergence of Web 2.0. For example, activities that involve creating scrapbooks from newspaper articles, or clipping them on the refrigerator, can be considered one of the early forms of user generated content. Readers actively participated in recirculation of information originally published elsewhere. Jenkins in Spreadable Media claims that these practices closely link to the rise of photo-copiers in the 20th century that enabled reproduction of material. Therefore, instead of only claiming that Web 2.0 enabled the emergence of UGC, Jenkins states that the opposite is true as well – the emergence of participatory culture enabled quick adoption of social platforms.

Relationship with the industry
New business models related to Web 2.0 utilize user generated content in order to gain profit The industry "transforms social goods generated through interpersonal exchanges into user generated content which can be monetized and commodified". In other words, platforms generate revenues from monetizing attraction created by user generated content. Bottom-up engagement in virtual marketing takes place on social platforms like YouTube, Instagram , Facebook , etc. In addition to that, practices of online fan communities become more and more incorporated with traditional media production. According to Burgess and Green, "productive practices of fans provide models for desired audience and consumer behavior in a wider range of industries".

Criticism
The concept of “user generated content” has received some criticism: Henry Jenkins puts user generated content in relation to fan culture, and argues that the industry tends to see users in isolation, rather than as a part of a larger community that shares the same traditions of participatory culture. Furthermore, “content” is according to him seen as “something that can be commodified and thus isolated from social relations which surrounds its production and circulation.” But fan culture is based on social relations between members of audience (fans), who share the same social and cultural expectations. According to Jenkins, the noncommercial status of fan culture is seen by many of fans as one of its most important aspects The problem lies in a fact that revenues generated by UGC are often not received by its authors, but by the platform hosting the content. Users' digital labor is therefore exploited by companies for commercial purposes. Hence, Jenkins states that commercialization and commodification of user generated content presents a threat to creative fan cultures.