USER GENERATED CONTENT

User Generated Content

User Generated Content

User generated content has become tremendously popular. Some of the most frequently visited sites on the Internet are primarily user generated. This is the case with sites like Wikipedia, where anyone can write an article with sufficient expertise. Other users may evaluate the content, suggest changes, or even make changes. Some material on Wikipedia carries warnings that an author is now espousing opinion, or that certain statements are not verifiable or have been called into question by other users.

Other times, bloggers may simply be paid a percentage of the profit for having ads on their site, and are paid by the number of people visiting the site. So there is particular impetus to have blogs that will be read by others. This often translates to better blogs being read by a high number of people. Excellence in writing can have its rewards.

Occasionally, a company will authorize the use of its images or music for user generated content on sites like YouTube. Other companies do not authorize this. Comedy Central, for example, asked YouTube to stop allowing clips from The Daily Show and the Colbert Report. When this user generated content is uploaded, it is usually found and discarded from the site. One of the challenges with user generated content is that it may be highly inaccurate, and may not be appropriate for the purpose of looking up material to obtain facts. Often the printed or uploaded word is treated as true simply because it is written. Writers can presume authority or expertise where they have none, and the reader may not always be able to discern the false from the true.

Are you regularly monitoring what people find in Google when they search for information about working for your company? (And they are searching to the tune of hundreds of thousands of career related searches every month.) Do you know what people are talking about as it relates to working for your company? Do you know who is talking, where they are talking, if it is positive negative or just neutral, and why? No, this isn't a test. Auditing, analyzing, understanding, and monitoring your online employer reputation should be the first step to developing a successful social recruiting strategy (Van Laere et al., 2008). Without first listening to and understanding what people are already saying about you as an employer, without knowing what issues exist or topics that are already being discussed your company is in no position to begin effectively participating.

Launching social recruiting initiatives without understanding the state of your online reputation first can be a recipe for disaster. You may discover that launching a recruiting blog is the way to go, but you might also discover that there are issues that are actively being discussed that should be addressed as a first step.

The effect of user generated content on the quality of published content is a hotly discussed subject, with many supporters for both sides of the ...