User-generated Speechification

13:56 Jul 12, 2008 41

I'm the team leader in a debate at the Online Advertising Symposium in Auckland on Thursday, arguing against the moot "Paid content is King – Consumer Generated Media is the Foot Soldier".

My colleagues on the negative side are Oliver Driver and award-winning viral ad guy Jason Rutherford.

Given the nature of the debate, I thought it would be appropriate to involve the Public Address user community in constructing an argument in the negative.

So, have a go; hit me with some tasty rhetoric. I'll credit everyone whose lines I use on Thursday, and award some big bags of Eden Coffee for the best of them.

41 responses to this post

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Russell Brown, 13:57 Jul 12, 2008

Hey, if Facebook can be valued at $15 billion …

Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report
Yamis, 14:01 Jul 12, 2008

In ten years on the internet I don't think I've paid to read a single thing (outside of monthly line charges).

Since Nov 2006 • 903 posts Report
Robyn Gallagher, 15:01 Jul 12, 2008

Is paid content where the author has been paid to write it or where the consumer pays to read it?
And wot is "consumer generated media"?
(I feel like I should actually already know these answers in a professional capacity...)

Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report
Peter Haynes, 15:05 Jul 12, 2008

Robyn, Wikipedia has a serviceable definition of "consumer generated media":
"CGM originated as a reference to posts made by consumers within online venues such as internet forums, blogs, wikis, discussion lists etc., on products that they have purchased. Shoppers who are researching products often use other consumers' opinions when making buying decisions.
The term has evolved to include video, audio and multimedia posts created by consumers in support (or negative parody/in-protest) of products, brands and corporate institutions."
RB: Shouldn't it be "Consumer Generated Media are the Foot Soldier"? How can you take seriously a proposition that isn't even grammatical?

Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 27 posts Report
Peter Haynes, 15:06 Jul 12, 2008

"Consumer Generated Media are the Foot Soldiers" I meant.

Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 27 posts Report
Russell Brown, 15:31 Jul 12, 2008

RB: Shouldn't it be "Consumer Generated Media are the Foot Soldiers"? How can you take seriously a proposition that isn't even grammatical?
I'm totally using that.

Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report
Russell Brown, 15:35 Jul 12, 2008

Is paid content where the author has been paid to write it or where the consumer pays to read it?
And wot is "consumer generated media"?
Good question. My instructions in this regard are as follows:
"when we talk about paid content we are referring to, for example, professionally produced tv shows, industry developed games, employed journalists' news articles, recorded news bulletins etc; and user generated content e.g. home-made movies, freeware games, blogs, citizen reporting etc."

Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report
Steve Barnes, 15:44 Jul 12, 2008

Any one who claims "Paid content is King – Consumer Generated Media is the Foot Soldier". has fallen at the first hurdle of on-line media understanding. The backbone of the Web is the people that use it, the end user. Why go to a website to read the opinions of those who already dominate the bigger media picture when you can so easily read the opinions of your peers on the world wide web? Users of sites like Digg and its ilk sort through the dross,of mostly paid contributions, and find the gold, mostly blogs and interesting stories grabbed from print media around the globe. They help us share the diversity of opinion and analysis of the many as opposed to the few.
Paid content is the dying corpse of the traditional media, the decaying flesh falling from the bones of a once proud tower of authority. User generated content is the new dawn, the fresh face of freedom, the rise of the collective conscience against the oppression of the old guard.

Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report
Keith Ng, 15:48 Jul 12, 2008

If paid content was king, why is it that so many kings work so hard to pretend to be the foot soldiers?

Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 543 posts Report
Raymond A Francis, 17:12 Jul 12, 2008

Nice lines Keith and Steve
I am inclined to think we have reach a turning point where we, the great unwashed can, thanks to WWW really reach out and talk to with each other with out going through the choke point of the paid opinionated "experts"
Of course we have always been able to do that on a one to one basis in the back bar of our local pub but now we have a much wider audience
And of course everybody can join in
I imagine the last time anything like this happened was when pamphleting (printing) was on the go before the English civil wars

45' South • Since Nov 2006 • 578 posts Report
Geoff Lealand, 18:46 Jul 12, 2008

Russell:if we assume that selling something is the core4 of paid content, you could start with the old aphorism "Advertising works half the time but nobody knows which half". Variously attributed to Lord Kellogg (of corn-flake fame) and unknown sources. I have read recent revisions ie "Advertising works one-third of the time....")

Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report
Geoff Lealand, 18:51 Jul 12, 2008

... and to totally digress from the topic, go the All Blacks tonight!
I was at a conference at the Duxton Hotel in Wellington this week, where the Springboks were staying. They didn't look so big, close up!

Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report
George Darroch, 19:57 Jul 12, 2008

The problem with the very question is that increasingly, there isn't a line.
A lot of blogs and other websites I visit and use have advertising or a paypal button etc., that at partially compensates for the effort made. While the contributors to these sites would certainly be ill advised to to quit their day jobs, they are being paid for their content. PA itself is an example of this.
For me the real question is, is user generated partially remunerated content (for which contributors receive less than market rates) going to take enough mindshare to seriously harm journalists and other paid contributors?

WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report
Rex Widerstrom, 20:54 Jul 12, 2008

Sure the whole "Slate" fiasco put paid to the argument that "paid content is king"?
Despite having some of the better-written content around, even the redoubtable Microsoft couldn't make enough to pay the piper, let along keep the king.
BTW can we access any of the Symposium material online? (After the event will do fine).

Perth, Western Australia • Since Nov 2006 • 157 posts Report
Robyn Gallagher, 21:14 Jul 12, 2008

Ah, thanks for the descriptions!
Recently I saw I poll on Stuff.co.nz asking if it should be illegal for pregnant women to drink. The majority of respondents said yes. I was annoyed but also knew that there would be no reflection of this at Stuff. So I went over to The Hand Mirror blog and found a recent post discussing pregnancy and drinking.
So it was Stuff's paid content and user-generated content that inspired me to find out an alternate perspective that happened to be user-generated content.

Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report
Zippy Gonzales, 21:40 Jul 12, 2008

We are not foot soldiers, we are conscientious objectors.

Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 186 posts Report
Evan Yates, 00:32 Jul 13, 2008

Consumer Generated Media are not mere foot soldiers. No! They are the elite ninja commandos that go stealthily ashore into unexplored territory. They take the (old) guard by surprise and garotte the sentries in the watchtowers. They fight the vital battles that spike the guns and win the invasion. They fight for the sheer pleasure of knocking the bastards off.
Paid content is the lowly conscript forced to follow along by order of a corps of grey officers comfortably ensconced in the rear echelon. They disembark from their "taken-up-from-trade" luxury cruise ships, saunter ashore, bayonet the wounded prisoners, steal their wallets and use the pliers from their corporate branded gift-bag multi-tool to pull all the gold teeth from the jaws of the fallen. The are just there for what they can get and would prefer not to get their hands dirty taking any risky initiatives.
Which group would you rather join? Be careful, your choice tells me all I need to know about you...

Hamiltron, Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Nov 2006 • 197 posts Report
David Hamilton, 01:59 Jul 13, 2008

Paid content is to consumer generated media like Pacifier is to Shihad.

Hamiltron • Since Nov 2006 • 111 posts Report
Paul Campbell, 10:46 Jul 13, 2008

I'm sure there's an argument about poorly scripted commercial porn vs talented amateurs having fun there somewhere ....

Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report
Emma Hart, 11:21 Jul 13, 2008

No! They are the elite ninja commandos that go stealthily ashore into unexplored territory.
I was working on this idea, but it goes like this.
It's quite possible paid content IS king. Sits around at home doing the same thing every day, with very rigidly-defined limits to what it's allowed to do.
Where the metaphor falls down is the foot soldier end. Foot soldiers march in formation. They go where you tell them to go and do what you tell them to do.
Consumer generated media are like 200 over-sugared kids at a birthday party. Most of the kids are doing whatever the cool kids are doing. There are so many of them, though, shooting off in all directions, that there'll be kids who find every interesting/disgusting thing in the yard. Some of them are coming up with brand new games. Some of them are running into walls and comparing each other to Hitler.
Taken as a whole, though, the kids will do things the King could never get away with doing (there was a tasteless joke about Wallace Simpson in here), and a few of them will be doing things the King didn't even know were possible.

Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report
Jackie Clark, 12:52 Jul 13, 2008

There it is right there, Russell. I do believe Emma may well have won your debate for you.

Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report
Rich of Observationz, 13:06 Jul 13, 2008

The OED, which is paid content thinks that media can be used as either a plural or singular noun.
Wiktionary which is user generated, concurs.

Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report
Robyn Gallagher, 13:27 Jul 13, 2008

This is possibly not totally relevant, but I thought it was worth mentioning anyway: the last time I bought a newspaper was in April, and that was for the sole purpose of using to pack my crockery when I was moving to Wellington.

Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report
Hilary Stace, 17:12 Jul 13, 2008

I have a problem with the monarchist, militarist and sexist assumptions contained in the proposition as indicated by the words 'King' and ' foot soldier'. How about critiquing the underlying power relationships from a Marxist, Foucauldian or good old feminist perspective? Where do you go for a quick, clear, and up to date description of these theories? Consumer generated Wikipedia of course.

Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report
Russell Brown, 19:17 Jul 13, 2008

The OED, which is paid content thinks that media can be used as either a plural or singular noun.
Wiktionary which is user generated, concurs.
Bugger me. When did that happen?

Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report