MindComet

Why do we love user-generated content?

User-generated content (UGC) is at the heart of many popular social platforms. Sites like YouTube and Flickr offer users vast amounts of UGC to consume. And consume they do, 72% of US Internet users watch user-generated videos monthly. Given the immense popularity of reality television, this makes sense. The hyper-authenticity of it resonates with all of us. The fact that we can also contribute our own content, provided we have access to some very basic production tools, makes it even more appealing. We’re not just consumers anymore, we’re also the stars.

While some established UGC channels see sustained organic growth, other lesser known channels use prizing to attract users to contribute content. DiscoverBoating, an online source of boating information, is holding an online contest where you create your own “ad” that tells the world how you “discovered boating”. They are accepting two ad formats, original videos and original photos. Each category has a $5K prize attached to it.

The video sharing site Viddiction takes a different approach, instead of a winner takes all contest, this site allows users to accumulate popularity points for their submitted videos and redeem those points for cash. In other words, everyone wins. How much you wins depends on the quality of your content and your ability to self-promote.

What are your favorite UGC sites? Have you ever made money from a UGC site?

BTW, the DiscoverBoating field is relatively narrow, I would suggest submitting some content..could be an easy $10K

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Posted by Jeremy Hilton on Jun. 10, 2009