The folks at the NY Times are getting social. They have recently introduced an option for users to upload their content to their Weddings and Celebrations page. Now everyone can see your video of "How we Met" at the NY Times. They are also doing this for auto enthusiasts at collectiblecars.nytimes.com. MSNBC has introduced their user generated content at firstperson.msnbc.com. And surely there will be lots of other UGC sites soon. But so what? Why should I put my content up at the NY Times or MSNBC when I can do so at YouTube?
All of this social interaction is great but is anyone doing anything innovative? Soon we’ll have the aggregation sites that spider all the links. Then you can go to one site to see all your friends videos from birth to graduation to the wedding and forward.
But where is the beef? Turns out that the highest percentage of videos viewed at YouTube are professionally produced…does that mean that UGC content will fade away.
My prediction: Highly specialized UGC content and professionally produced content will succeed. For example expert up and coming snowboarders or those with very unique talents that appeal to a niche group…poker lessons from unknown great players…and these videos will only appeal to the specific narrow specialized audience.
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