One reason user-generated content trickles instead of flows to your journalism performance organization
Seamus McCauley (Virtual Economics) offers a perspective on consumer/user-generated content through the lens of a book, This Other Eden, by Ben Elton. Here’s an excerpt of an excerpt from the book that McCauley pulled:
“The public always had the technology to get involved with the action if it wanted to. Right back to the Greeks. All they had to do was get up on stage and join in. But they didn’t do it, did they? Weird, huh? Maybe, just maybe, they kind of guessed that it would completely screw up the show.”
I enjoy this post because it makes me reconsider all of the whiz-bang Web site tools that facilitate interaction with an audience, a term that has experienced many assassination attempts as online communication tools proliferate.
Ah-ha: How people want to interact with information has never changed (and never will change?). Consumers want to consume. That tests the idea of the audience transforming into author that is driving many discussions about news and information sites.
For your viewing pleasure, here is a video about the transformation of the audience found via The Long Tail. My favorite part is when the corporate voice from inside the skyscraper says, “Can’t we just blog back?” and another voice answers, “Yeah, but where’s the money in that?” Enjoy:
