Date First Published: 11th September 2022
Topic: Web Design & Development
Subtopic: Web Development
Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions
Difficulty: MediumDifficulty 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.
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 include:
User-generated content is important for the following reasons:
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