The Future of User Generated Content

Co-sponsored with the Cable Center and The Communications Technology Professionals

According to Time magazine, the person of 2006 was “you,” reflecting its judgment that the millions of bloggers, music remixers, amateur video creators of YouTube fame, wikipedians, and Flickr photographers were mainstream fare. Many in the mainstream media are increasingly asking themselves how they can take advantage of this phenomenon. They also realize that this phenomenon is no passing fad, with only 3% of executives in a recent survey labeling “social media” as a temporary phenomenon. More interestingly, two-thirds of those executives were “positive” that their firms would make money off of such media, but only a quarter of them had any idea of how they would do so.

This conference will analyze the growing trends related to user generated content. In so doing, it will begin with the question of what new technologies are emerging and how they will transform traditional media and usage patterns. Secondly, it will ask what business models will emerge – both for new upstarts and established media companies – to turn this phenomenon into profitable ventures. Will, for example, established firms incorporate user-generated content into their offerings, offer the rights to their traditional content for others to remix, or both. Finally, it will examine the legal issues that arise in connection with this phenomenon, ranging from intellectual property issues to questions of consumer privacy to calls for regulation to protect children and guard against defamation in this emerging medium.