User Generated Content | Liability and Marketability
Posted By Melanie Prough on April 11, 2009
User generated content, continues to be very hot for fast indexing, and traffic building. I see webmasters taking advantage of this trend everyday. Is Web 2.0 going to crash, like we all are hearing. I suspect we are approaching a lull….However, I think a new, and better Web3.0(?) will be born. I see webmasters everyday, creating some of the most viable content baited user interfaces we would have ever imagined 5 years ago.
Forums, once very hot, have cooled a bit….Many great forums exist, but many users would rather comment on a Blog. Wiki continues to be a very happening techy kind of attraction. Blogs are still fairing very well, and new innovations have enhanced the reader’s experience. Photo sharing is very big, users gain the storage they need and make connections with other users. Social networks, are extremely popular, especially among the younger population..Which is often the the toughest sector to reach with non-media content.
There are smaller things you can do to improve your reader’s interaction, and take advantage of Web 2.0. Widgets are a great way to accomplish this. Vote tools, bookmarking buttons, comment forms, and Blog visitor avatars displays are just a few examples. Commerce sites can greatly benefit from a customer review mod/widget. All of these things can make your readers feel more a part of your site.
What I see very often, or get asked about is for example spam. The bottom line is, if you are running a user generated content platform…You are going to have maintenance to do. Many webmasters take this on far to lightly. Forums are a great example, there are hacks and prevention tools that have become a necessity. Even with the proper set up, there will be a certain amount of spam or unwanted solicitation. Webmasters generally find themselves in over their head very quickly if they can’t find the time to do the maintenance daily. Many webmasters will name moderators to help, and contribute. Many still are too scared or intimidated to give up any power. User generated content is not to be taken on lightly, it requires upkeep.
They are many ways to pull some interaction out of your readers. Simple methods are usually best. Ingenuity pays big! Think outside of the box, give them something new and personalized.
Blogs for example, let you readers know it’s OK to comment…That you appreciate it. Everyone likes to be appreciated. Every comment on your Blog should be answered by yourself, or alternatively the post writer. It’s just common courtesy. Fun comments and your own writing style will make your readers feel more in touch with you, and thus more likely to comment. Offer up a challenge, ask your readers to supply the missing link to the post. Credit your commenters who have supplied missing or incomplete information from your post (this never happens, right?). Comments can be contagious!
Forum communities are better suited for niches, and they tend to develop the “in crowd” syndrome. As a site owner, a high priority should be to make every poster feel welcome. Word can travel very fast on the Internet, and a forum with a bad reputation is going to struggle. Getting people to post and be involved is a bit more involved with forums. I think an area for “off topic” giggles and discussion is a good tool to accomplish this. Every forum should have a welcome area where new members can introduce themselves, I wouldn’t suggest beating up the ones who don’t use it, however. Start interesting threads, welcome and help posters, and you will have a much better shot at success.
Social networks can be very successful if done right. I’m not going to get a whole bunch in to this as there are many liabilities involved. I will however suggest that if you are interested in giving a social network a go, then you might check out Ning.
User generated content does have many drawbacks, especially if you are not committed to it. I suggest that you consider housing your USG in a different Domain, or Sub Domain. It’s own specific hosting is really far better, however. The reason is this, you can find yourself overcome with spam or “bad neighborhood” links in a heartbeat. This can cause a TrustRank and credibility problem for the Domain, and even server it is on. There are many creative ways to avoid this, but in the end it can come at you very fast. If your comments are un-moderated, make sure you are checking them frequently enough to keep the spam down.
Automated posters and form users are a big problem. The easiest method to avoid this is with a “capcha” on your forms, and a time between posts hack for your forums. Check your referrers, stats and backlinks…You might find your forum or Blog on a spammer’s site directory of forums to spam in…Block that site if you are able. I favor the hack that makes new posters unable to post links, and adding the necessary “nofollow” to commenters links and posters profiles is a great deterrent.
All in all, while you may think this can be alot of work and risk…It can also be a great success. Just make sure you have the resources needed to manage it properly. Read about the software you are using and become an expert in dealing with the structure and issues related. If you are just getting started, then investigate all of the software options available and ask for advice in a respectable and relevant place. Hard work is not always the fastest route, but very often it is the most satisfying.
Punishment is now unfashionable… because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. Weprefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility.
Thomas Szasz
Peace and SEO
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