UGC, Not UGC: It is About the Economics of Context
Spanish ad holding company Havas recently created a digital media R&D division called Havas Media Lab, headed by our London-based friend Umair Haque. Now the Lab has come out with a provocative white paper, titled: The Economics of Consumption: User Generated Context. The full PDF paper is here (PDF link).
Its hypothesis: media companies and investors have been focusing on the wrong usage of UGC: instead of user-generated content, it should really be user-generated context, and gives its own opinion on why it’s preventing the media industry from exploring new business models and disrupting old ones. “From an economic point of view, user generated context is an entirely different good from content: a complement. Demand for one amplifies demand for the other. The tail of content is lengthening – but that supply curve is made up of new content players like PaidContent (um..that’s us) and RocketBoom….By conflating the content and context, we mistakenly assume that what connected consumers create is inherently worthless—when, in fact, it’s by letting connected consumers contextualize content that tsunamis of new value can be unlocked (just ask Google).”
My suggestion: the next paper should be on economics of attention, which ties well into this. Read this one in full…via Matthew Ingram.
Posted In: Social Media, havas media lab
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Comments (4)
Jul 15, 2008 9:56 AM
Rafat,
Pretty sure you already know this, but Umair also has some excellent posts on attention economy @ bubblegen.
This one might be a good one to begin with:
http://www.bubblegeneration.com/2005/11/attention-economy-across-consumer.cfm
Jul 15, 2008 2:57 PM
Perhaps this will expose too much of my own ignorance, but I’ve never been able to understand Umair’s writing. Other people seem to get it, and talk highly of him, so there’s obviously something there, but at least what I’ve read on Bubblegen has always been impenetrable to me.
Jul 15, 2008 3:01 PM
Hah…he can be dense…but this white paper I understood well. Especially if he uses us as a reference point :)
Jul 15, 2008 3:24 PM
Rafat & Umair,
I say, Well done!
I am a Brand Consultant with a background as an Entertainment Talent Agent. The first thing that comes to mind is that a product, company, service, etc. has a “Q” rating that is based on the cume of the Consumer’s Context “Cloud.” I read User message boards, forums and countless posts that keep me well informed on User Context. I can tell if a post is planted.
The web provides endless arena’s to be educated and informed, the ultimate free focus group. All you have to do is pay attention. Attention goes both ways, the company seeks to lure, grab and convert. The consumer asks “Who are you, what do you do and why should I care?” or “What is that, what does it do and will it make me happy?”
So thank you so much for fantastic interpretation of the tangible and the intangible currency. That is soul of the disconnect for the clients.