More responses to 'what is user generated content?'

I asked the following questions to my friend Pauline, who is a Wholesale Manager for the Japanese Clothing line, YM (Fashion) UK.

1. What does 'user generated content' mean to you?  

Pauline: 

I was going to say that it actually means very little other than facebook - when in fact that’s pretty rubbish and I rely on it quite a bit whether it’s something entertaining or informative. It’s become a valid tool these days, or at least it’s so well established that it is everywhere.

2. How do you use 'user generated content'? 

Pauline:  

Holiday reviews – trip advisor, Restaurant reviews

News wise – live updates from members of the public there at the scene -such as the student riots, natural disasters.

Question and answer sites for research purposes for work.

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I also asked my friend Katie Hunter, who is video journalist for Channel 4 News, who is a professional sense creates 'user generated content'.

1. What is user generated content?

Katie:

UGC

UGC is literally content generated by a user.

2. How do you use 'user generated content'?

Katie:

For example on 7/7 we might have used lots of UGC because people on tubes would have filmed footage on their mobiles that TV cameras wouldn't have been able to get. We use lots of video from Youtube these days - for example the Japan tsunami created LOADS of UGC which we put online and on TV.

Another type of UGC might be us asking our Twitter followers what they think of NHS reforms and then using their replies in an online article.

Other people's views of usergenerated content

Hi Jenny, I asked a few people what they thought user generated content meant and how they use it. This was also a task I asked you to do - asking five people the same question. It would be great to include this in some way:

1. This is Emma Flynn, a curator and old art school friend's response: 

'ok on the user generated content:

I have recently been discussing with a fellow PhD who is working on a project around online criticism, so this term makes me think of blogs and ratings/reviews websites first. On the other hand it also makes me think of creating a facility or machine where by audiences can create something themselves by using something provided for them.

its a tough one. I google it (which is probably bad) but got this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User-generated_content and my thoughts were right for it to draw me to online/new media.

There are a few examples which instantly spring to mind, facebook/twitter (being obvious). i guess a lot of what comes to mind immediately are platforms for user generated content, like youtube and flikr.http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

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to the second question where i use UGC:

If i think about reviews and ratings I use them for most purchases I make online (or in shops when im not sure about the quality of an item (eg electronics purchase). So amazon, tripadvisor, google. I am always using facebook for photos/comments/updates, and other networking media like Linkedin and twitter (although differently - twitter mostly for Hansberg/Woolf activities and linkedin is a carefully constructed professional forum for me)

i am always lured into any surveys (cause i love answering questions) and even lured into ridiculous things like voting for the next step in the BT adverts (like is she pregnant? what dress should she wear) - which i know is so awful but i am quite attached to their storyline - normally i wouldnt bother :P"

    2. This is what my mum (she is a forensic child psychiatrist) had to say: 

"For me, user generated content means when I am working with a patient and the patient implements something they want to include themselves into the suggestion of their treatment/ recovery" 

For the second question my mum said she 'would avoid any form of user generated content for herself at all costs'.  

I am still waiting for three people to get back to me but will upload the information when I have it.