User-generated content is now the new trend not only in online media, advertising, and marketing but also among young creatives who use web platforms. Thanks to user-generated content and a participatory web, businesses and online media are converting Internet users from consumers into creators.
Then, what precisely is user-generated content? As I continue to write this article, I am contributing what we refer to as client-produced content; content that is made and shared by Web clients and is comprised of various media and imaginative works. Creative media can take many forms, including written, audio, visual, or a combination of the three. In point of fact, the only thing that can stop them is one’s imagination.
An excellent illustration of a business that is dependent on user-generated content is Wikipedia; a collection of entities with a single page that, through user contributions and edits, provide information about particular subjects. Any user can contribute to the collaboration by editing the pages and adding information or sources.
Although Wikipedia is a great example of user-generated content, it is not the best example of creative use of user-generated works. User-generated content can be used by young creatives like artist Girltalk. During the day, Girltalk is a musician; at night, she works in an office collecting biological data. He is sort of a musician because he does so-called “mashups” to make something old sound new again. For instance, he will create a mashup by combining the beat of one song with the lyrics of another song. He then effectively conveys his shiny new melody across various social and online stages. Girltalk has a large following, and it has inspired other creative people to join the mashup fun, which has resulted in songs, videos, and even rewriting popular screenplay plots.
