Apropos of Nothing
May 15, 2007 12:08 PM
I hate the term User Generated Content. I never use the phrase when talking about this stuff and I'll never use it when writing about it. I consider it a pejorative that reveals a lot about the person saying it. It makes members of your site feel like dutiful robots, crapping content that you convert into cash. The proper (respectful) term is community, and running one is a real challenge. If you're building a community you have to love what you're doing and be the best member of it. It takes great care and patience to create a space others will share and you have to nurture it and reward your best contributors. It's a decidedly human endeavor with few, if any, technical shortcuts.

Community Tips for 2007 - Matt Haughey

Though he's not writing about JPG Magazine at all I think Matt Haughey just helped me put my theories about the changes at JPG Magazine into an elevator pitch sized sound bite

JPG Magazine seems to have just flipped the switch from being a community to being user generated content.

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Comments

I agree with Matt. I really want to start an online community but having used many of them, I know I need some financial backing and a dedicated crew to make it successful.

One of the problems with the success of Web 2.0 buzzwords is that everyone thinks they can just throw up a "community" and become the new MySpace overnight.

1. Posted by j. brotherlove on May 15, 2007

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