User-Contributed Content

What do you think of user-contributed content?

It depends on what the "user" is contributing. This may sound elementary but consider the fundamentals of the Internet. It is an online sharing tool. Time magazine recognizes user-contributed information as being the next best thing. Or is it? When it comes to listening to their customers, companies find it is one of the most useful tools to solving tough business problems. On the flip side, who are these people that contribute to news worthy stories? Who has the time, energy or passion to respond to content?

These online reviewers are people that offer valuable and sometimes useless feedback for discussion. If there is no direction to the discussion or forum, it can seem the user is rambling. Some companies set up designated chats or message boards to control the flow of conversation. In Web Developer's Virtual Library , new media pundits claim that user-contributed content "is one of the major benefits of the online medium compared with print and broadcast." The online medium has the timeliness and proximity that newspapers and TV lack.

The Internet is in the midst of an explosion of user-contributed content. Shows like Larry King Live and Nancy Grace are prime media examples of user-contributed content online. They offer the public news headlines and exclusive websites for vital information from celebrity gossip to missing persons updates. According to Judy Olson , "the dynamic and collaborative nature of the content available online today is a new twist on how people have used technology to share information in the past." Users are free to comment on what is most important to them as opposed to what fits with the stereotypical norm.

I contribute to content online daily through group message boards and Facebook wall posts. News is definitely a conversation. Think about how we all find out about the headlines. I can recall several instances where someone has called, text or emailed me about breaking news. It's the public's way of keeping each other safe and informed. In Journalism in a 24/7 World, this means making better ethical and credible news decisions for the online editor. This will change the way main stream media reports and produces the news by keeping journalism standards and values at the forefront of reporting. User-contributed content can only expand our knowledge and desire to report accurate and timely stories.