CGM in the News

Consumer Generated Media (CGM) has been in the news the last couple days. Two items in particular caught my attention. First, blogger

User: One who uses. Like, you know, a junkie. Generated: Like a generator, engine. Like, you know, a robot. Content: Something that fills a box. Like, you know, packing peanuts. So what's user-generated content? Junkies robotically filling boxes with packing peanuts. Lovely. Calling the beautiful, amazing, brilliant things people create online "user-generated content" is like sliding up to your lady, putting your arm around her and whispering, "Hey baby, let's have intercourse."

So what's his alternative? "Authentic Media." Well, now, let's see. According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Fourth Edition), "media" in Powazek's post refers to "a means of mass communication, such as newpapers, magazines, radio, or television." The same source defines "authentic" as "conforming to fact and therefore worthy of trust, reliance, or belief." So, "authentic media" then, is some kind of mass communication that conforms to fact and is worthy of trust. This defines everything coming out of the CGM space? And all traditional advertising and marketing creative is inauthentic? C'mon. All Powazek has done is add another term to the list that people have announced they hate. These include podcast, blog, blogosphere, Web 2.0, and a host of others. The nice thing about labels, though, is that everyone knows what you mean when you use them. No need for labored explanations. For all the essays condemning "Web 2.0" as marketing hype, I know when it's used that it's addressing the combination of social media and read-write web applications like those created using Ajax. (Oh, yeah. Some people don't like "Ajax.") Besides, Derek, it's just as easy to use these definitions instead of the ones you stretched for: User: Someone who uses tools someone else has created specifically to be used. Generated: Produced or created. Content: Creative material, such as those indexed in a table of contents So what's user-generated content? People using tools to produce creative material. None of which helps answer this question: What should a company do when UCG or CGM or CM is used in a way that is most definitely contrary to the images the company wants to project? This question surfaced several months ago when somebody produced a TV commercial for the iPod. If you haven't seen it, be warned: It's about as far from family-friendly as it gets. Definitely not safe for work. CGM (or whatever we end up agreeing to call it) is wonderful, and it's not going anywhere. When it crosses the line, though, companies are going to have to figure what to do-or not do-in response. To be honest, I'm not sure what my counsel to Apple would be. I'm leaning toward ignoring it for fear of being branded prudish, but I'm just not 100% certain. What do you think? Add to document.write("Del.icio.us") | Yahoo! My Web Technorati: Holtz Communication + Technology which focuses on helping organizations apply online communication capabilities to their strategic organizational communications. As a professional communicator, Shel also writes the blog

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