What Is User-Generated Content?

Date First Published: 11th September 2022

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: Web Development

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 4/10

Learn more about what user-generated content is in this article.

User-generated content, also known as user-created content, or UGC, refers to any content that has been provided to a website by users rather than the owner of the website. User-generated content can include text, images, video, audio, and more. Some websites, such as social media, are completely based on user-generated content, whilst others may have little to no user-generated content. Most websites have some form of user-generated content. For example, blogs often include a section at the bottom of the page that allows users to post comments about articles, give feedback, and suggest improvements.

Users often have to log in or create an account to post user-generated content and the owner of the content is identified by the username and profile picture. However, some websites, such as Wikipedia allow users to anonymously post content. When posting, they may have a default username, such as 'Guest' or 'Anonymous' to hide their identity, but they can still be tracked by their IP address.

User-generated content has to be monitored by the website owner to ensure that it is not harmful or against the terms of use. However, on large websites, it is not possible for one person to monitor every piece of content that goes on there. Instead, large websites often rely on a flagging system, allowing users to report content they believe is against the guidelines and bringing it to the website owner's attention.

Note:

Web 2.0 is the name for the stage of development of the World Wide Web that has user-generated content. It evolved from Web 1.0, the original version of the World Wide Web that contained static content that only changed when the webmaster manually updated it. User-generated content has enabled dynamic websites.

Examples Of User-Generated Content

Examples of user-generated content include:

• Wikis - These allow anyone to directly add and edit web content.
• User reviews - Users can share their opinions and experiences of a product or service by writing a review and then posting it.
• Forums - These allow multiple users to discuss topics online.
• Questions and answers submitted on wikiHow and Quora.
• Comment sections on a blog or news website.
• Uploaded content (e.g. images, videos).
• Posts, photos, videos, and stories shared on social media sites, such as Facebook and Instagram.

Importance Of User-Generated Content

User-generated content is important for the following reasons:

• It encourages engagement with the website. Visitors can contribute and share their own content and experience.
• It increases trust. Content created by multiple users rather than only the website owner(s) will increase the trust of a website. For example, most online stores have user reviews where registered users can write and submit their own reviews and inform people of their experience. Without those, it would be much more difficult for people to find out information about the quality of products and services.
• Content can be created much more quickly. For example, on wikis, content can be created, updated, and maintained much faster since anyone can add a new page or edit an existing page at any time.
• It may provide SEO benefits - User-generated content can allow users to post content with backlinks to external websites, boosting their search engine ranking, although this is only a benefit for the website that users link to.

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