E-Zine Article - User Generated Content
User generated content has quickly become one of the strongest application areas in the online world. With the rise of sites that live off of user generated content, such as YouTube or DeviantArt, to name a few, there are hundreds of sites that are based off of user generated content, then using ad revenue to create profit. They have become so popular because everybody had the ability to do it, and have their content viewed. Because more and more people have easy access to the internet now, the number of users increases, it is more than likely they will filter through the main websites that their friends use, for example, they will most likely end up on YouTube because of the variety on the website. With the increasing number of users, will also increase the amount of original content created, which will, in turn attract more users.
Before the majority of the population had internet access there was a demand of shows such as “You’ve been framed”, shows which, displayed funny video clips that would not make it onto television in actual circumstances. But now that the majority of people have access to the internet, and the equipment to make videos, for example some mobile phones are capable of capturing a video, then uploading it to the internet with ease. Some people have taken advantage of this rise in user generated content, by hosting their own web show. They have done this by acquiring a fan base who consistently watch their videos. They get paid by doing this because they are "partnered" with YouTube and are paid with add revenue from advertisements being placed on the video. Because of the popularity of user generated content, some companies and businesses have created accounts and upload content, for example, news companies upload highlights to encourage people to watch their programs.
In comparison to television and film, user generated content is without boundaries, anything is possible with so many users creating content to put online. Where the user generated content seems limitless, it is primarily controlled by the users, often with sites having a "Flag" option, or a method of users being able to report certain things. This can also be a problem, due to people falsely accusing others. Another big issue with this is Copyright, the most common infringement being music/audio, normally due to people simply not knowing the audio is copy righted. However, copy righting things can help against others reporting, or claiming something as their own.
Because most people have access to upload content like videos, pictures or even blogs, it has been shown how useful it is, and how powerful it can be. For example the earth quake that devastated China in 2010, the government did not want the rest of the world seeing how their emergency services dealt with the situation, and all media was banned from reporting it, filming it or anything of that nature. However many people were able to take pictures, record videos and send messages out of the country/ upload them somewhere, (for example Twitter) to show the world what was happening. This also happened in another circumstance where many people believed that the recent election was rigged, which caused them to riot, and again, all media in the country was shut off and banned from reporting it. However people again, used videos, pictures and messages to notify the outside world as to what was happening, Twitter played a very big role in this one, because a lot of people had access to it, because of the advancement of technology, many phones and hand held devices have access to the internet, either from connecting to a WiFi point, which as an area with wireless internet access, which is more limited than 3G internet, which is becoming more and more common with phones and hand held devices now. 3G internet is being able to have access virtually everywhere, depending on the service provider. Because of this, Twitter has sworn to protect its users.
As well as uploading content onto sharing websites, users create items for internal use, for example, a word document to be used internally by a company, which would be dispersed via email attachment. Another way a company would use media internally would be creating and showing a presentation using something similar to Power Point for example. If sending out media to distant places, rather than using an email people would have used DVD disks to store data, which has more recently been replaced with USB memory sticks or USB hard drives, because they can store more data and are physically smaller, in many occasions.
There are many different file formats for different media, from Gifs to WMVs. Websites that are based off of user generated content typically accept most file formats, however a video sharing site like YouTube probably would not accept JPEG's trying to be uploaded. Likewise on an image sharing website not accepting video formats, however, they may accept Gifs, which is an animation based format. Because of the increase in user generated content based websites, more have arisen which are specifically for one thing, for example, YouTube for videos, Tumblr for images, blogs and a few animation types, and SoundCloud for audio sharing, for example a band may have an account on SoundCloud and upload music preview for people to listen too, or host the file there for users to download.
There are several main media players that are used to view media on your own platform, for example, Windows Media Player, Flash Player and QuickTime. Some programs, for example, iTunes allows you to be able to stream a podcast and listen to it, or download it to then later listen. Streaming is commonly used to view online files, such as videos, audio/music and such things. However depending on your internet connection, it may not the best solution, as you have to stream the media, whilst viewing it. This can be difficult depending on your location, service provider and connection speed. Also time, because there are peak times, where the largest amount of users are online.
