Comments on: Will Economics Kill the UGC Star?

By: juan

juan — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:44:19 +0000

UGC should evolutionate from “funny home videos” or TV shows upload to be monetize with advertisment, to real personal UGC to be used publicly or privately (as personal multimedia diary) on subscription basis. (with affordable cost and provinding the technology to do that seamlessly, from laptop webcam or mobile). This may apply not only to video content, also to audio content..

By: Alain Yap, Morph Labs

Alain Yap, Morph Labs — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:37:44 +0000

New revenue model, please! @John Berard’s two cents is worth more.

By: Gartner Blog Network - Andrew Frank: Will Economics Kill the UGC Star?

Gartner Blog Network - Andrew Frank: Will Economics Kill the UGC Star? — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:24:28 +0000

[...] Read more… [...]

By: John Berard

John Berard — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:49:24 +0000

It has been by rote memorization that founders of social networking sites have answered the business model question with on word: advertising. But none seem to have come to grips with the essential contradiction. The supporting collaboration that draws and binds a social community is counter to the monologue of advertising.

That is the nut which needs to be cracked. Can social networks make advertising relevant to the individual, transparent in its message, supportive of the group and meaningful at the moment? We have a lot of examples of attempts gone awry (e.g., Beacon), but few to balance the ledger.

Advertising can’t be bolted on a social network. It has to arise from the interests of the members. And, rather than continue to deploy increasingly intrusive monitoring technologies (BT, anyone?), it may be time to revert to what has always worked best: just ask.

My personal and commercial two cents.