Who’s Afraid of User-Generated Content?

by Joanna Pineda Posted on August 25, 2009

Users on Computers From homemade movies on YouTube, to movie and book reviews, comments on blogs, and entries in Wikipedia, user-generated content (UGC) has changed the Web forever. I can’t imagine the Amazon shopping experience without comments and ratings from other moms, the posts from the 500 or so people I follow on Twitter could keep me occupied and interested all day, and I thank God every day for the thousands of homemade Thomas the Tank Engine movies on YouTube that keep my five-year old enthralled on a rainy day.  Mashable reported that more than 82 million people in the US created content online in 2008.

So how come most organizations shy away from incorporating UGC on their sites?

I think it’s because most organizations are not equipped to deal with UGC, good, bad or indifferent.  And they are deathly  afraid of negative comments.  Here’s my take on UGC, why it’s here to stay and why most organizations need a UGC strategy:

How about you?  What’s your take on user-generated content?  What are your favorite UGC sites?  Has your organization taken the UGC plunge?

5 replies on “Who’s Afraid of User-Generated Content?”

I agree that many organizations are afraid of user-generated content. I think they fear a lack of control over what is said about them, and they don’t really understand the benefits of UGC. That’s sad because it can be such a powerful tool. I’ve tweeted about customer service problems I have had with retail stores, utility companies and the like, and some of the companies have Twitter streams to contact unhappy customers like me. That’s a powerful tool and makes a huge impact on me as a customer.

If you believe that your organization offers an excellent product or service, then there’s little to fear from public user comments. (And if you don’t, for goodness sake find something else to do!) For the past 10 years our inhouse design team has sent an annual electronic survey to everyone in our firm soliciting candid feedback. In addition to comments, we ask our internal clients to rate our group overall and every team member individually on a number of things, using a five-point scale: 1-Awful! 2-Needs Work 3-Satisfactory 4-Very Good 5-Awesome! (Respondents can remain anonymous). Ironically, of the thousands of responses we’ve received over the years, I don’t recall getting a single “Awful!” I think there’s something about making yourself vulnerable and wide open to criticism that folks translate as a willingness to listen and improve–and they’ll usually react positively to that!

I agree that many organizations are afraid of user-generated content. I think they fear a lack of control over what is said about them, and they don’t really understand the benefits of UGC. That’s sad because it can be such a powerful tool. I’ve tweeted about customer service problems I have had with retail stores, utility companies and the like, and some of the companies have Twitter streams to contact unhappy customers like me. That’s a powerful tool and makes a huge impact on me as a customer.

If you believe that your organization offers an excellent product or service, then there’s little to fear from public user comments. (And if you don’t, for goodness sake find something else to do!) For the past 10 years our inhouse design team has sent an annual electronic survey to everyone in our firm soliciting candid feedback. In addition to comments, we ask our internal clients to rate our group overall and every team member

I agree that many organizations are afraid of user-generated content. I think they fear a lack of control over what is said about them, and they don’t really understand the benefits of UGC. That’s sad because it can be such a powerful tool.

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