User-Generated Content and Success in a Convergent Media Environment (Research Paper Sample)

USER-GENERATED CONTENT AND SUCCESS IN A CONVERGENT MEDIA ENVIRONMENT
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Introduction
Media convergence entails the interconnection information and communication technologies, computing networks, and media content, which not only represents a technological shift, but also a change in the relationships between technologies, markets, industries, genres, producers, and audiences. One of the phenomena interrelated with media convergence is the rise of user-generated content, which represents content made public through the web and outside professional media practice, as driven by the development of web 2.0 that allows users to upload and share content online. The number of people contributing to user-generated content keeps rising by the day, which has significant implications for traditional media and the contributors themselves. In the information and journalism world, user-generated content leads to emerging issues and questions including the opportunities and risks involved owing to implications on aspects such as gate-keeping roles, quality, professionalism, power shifts, transparency, collaborative culture, and participative journalism.
In particular, some observers argue that the collectivist digital space promoted by user-generated content creates opportunities for success in a convergent media environment. However, the centrality of user-generated content in driving success in the era of media convergence is a complex issue that entails multifaceted considerations, especially considering that both media convergence and user-generated content are relatively recent developments. As a result, the contribution of user-generated content to financial and competitive success in a convergent media environment necessitates heightened inquiry. The present study seeks to establish whether user-generated content has become fundamental to success in a convergent media environment. The approach undertaken involves a literature review entailing a critical analysis of various scholarly sources concerning multiple aspects of the contribution of user-generated content to desirable outcomes in an environment characterized by media convergence.
Literature Review
The studies reviewed herein explore aspects of the topic in areas such as how major firms in the media industry are paying attention to user-generated content and the contribution of such content in transforming media practices. Further, the themes also concern the opportunities and challenges arising from the participative culture arising from the UGC integration into media in the era of convergence.
Implications for Mainstream Media
Harrison sought to explore how the BBC managed user-generated content in its presence on the Internet. The scholar employed an observational case study, investigating the nature of user-generated content the BBC hub dealt with, how the firm managed such content, and the implications of the content for the firm. The findings indicated that the BBC handled various types of user-generated content, such as unsolicited news stories, solicited content on specific stories, and audience watchdog content. The study also established that the BBC paid close attention to user-generated content, as evidenced by routine moderation. Further, the scholar noted that BBC’s traditional gate keeping approaches were evolving under the influences of user-generated content, with the BBC attempting to maintain its core news values. Ultimately, the study indicated that the BBC hub was extensively using user-generated content and shifting toward soft journalism whose consequences for the BBC were still unclear. However, it is evident that a major firm such as the BBC cannot ignore user-generated content, with its management determining the value the firm may obtain from it in the converged media setting. Although the observational case study approach limits the generalizability of the findings, it still provides pointers to the attention major media firms give to user-generated content.
According to Deuze, Bruns, and Neuberger, the field of journalism is in the process of reinventing and rethinking because of declining public trust in news and loss of advertising revenue alongside the advent of participatory, self-expressive, and digitized media culture. The scholars sought to study how journalism is preparing for the participatory age that entails both professional and amateur or user-generated content. The study analyzed case studies concerning of emerging participatory news practices in Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, and the United States. The findings indicated that media convergence unfolded alongside participatory practices involving the gathering, selection, editing, and communication by producers and consumers alike. The case study approach provides the real-world picture of the significance that user-generated content is gaining in today’s media world. However, the scholars note that participatory journalism may lead to failure or success, depending on how media firms manage it.
Paulusen and Ugille expound on the challenges in participatory journalism mentioned by Deuze, Bruns, and Neuberger in the preceding study. The scholars argue that traditional media firms are increasingly interested in integrating user-generated content into professional news generation, but face contextual hindrances to such participatory journalism. Employing a social constructivist approach, the scholars conducted semi-structured interviews with newsroom staff from two Belgian newspapers and one local community website, studying the development of participatory journalism and the factors influencing adoption of user-generated content. The findings indicated that participatory journalism was developing at a sluggish pace owing to newsroom structures, work routines, and professional beliefs that inhibit the adoption of user-generated content. The qualitative approach used in the study is advantageous because it explores the issue deeply. From the results, it is evident that media firms understand the importance of user-generated content in a converged media world, but are facing challenges in adopting such content.
Mitchelstein and Boczkowski underscore the growing importance of user-generated media in a world shifting toward media convergence, noting that online news media have become crucial shaping social, economic, and cultural life in many societies. The scholars undertook a metaanalytic inquiry in which they reviewed studies published in the area of online news production since 2000. The study examined themes such as historical context and market environment, innovation processes, challenges to established professional dynamics, journalistic practice alterations, and the role played by user-generated content. The study revealed that the media world was caught in a state of dynamic changes owing to media convergence. Aspects such as user-generated content mean that the world of media practice has to tinker with emerging or alternative pathways while still striving to retain established norms. Further, new phenomena such as participatory inclinations force the world of media to rethink its concepts. The multiple studies reviewed provide exhaustive evidence that mainstream media players have to consider and manage user-generated content in a world characterized by media convergence.
Noting that the user-driven citizen journalism appeared to have limiting effects of traditional media’s gate-keeping control over content, Lewis, Kaufhold and Lasorsa sought to establish how community newspaper editors managed the professional complexities posed by user-generated content. Through interviewing 29 newspaper editors in Texas, the scholars noted practical and philosophical support or opposition to the place and role of user-generated content in news production. Further, the findings indicated that both large and small news organizations had to confront issues of gate keeping associated with user-generated content. In addition, the scholars highlighted the ‘hyperlocal’ turn of journalism in the modern converged media world, as news networks respond to digitization and the associated participative inclinations by serving niche geographic and virtual communities. Overall, in-depth interviews undertaken help explore crucial insights that reinforce the view that user-generated content is forcing practice shifts among media firms, aligning with the studies reviewed previously.
Braun and Gillespie confirm the emerging theme that the media convergence is influencing the media industry to pay attention and manage user-generated content. The researchers note the inverse and converging movement entailing news organizations and online media platforms. Here, the media industry has found that its missions are shifting toward including the management of unruly users who seldom conform to the norms of journalism. Braun and Gillespie employed in-depth interviews to study how news organizations and online media platforms are managing user-generated content, establishing that news organizations are having to learn and practice community management. Although the interviews undertaken may not be generalizable to a wider population, their in-depth nature helps underscore the view that management of user-generated content is becoming an increasingly important activity among media outlets operating in a media convergence environment.
User Perspectives
Shao explored the development and significance of user-generated content from the perspective of users, studying the appeals that led users to engage in the emerging participative media culture. The scholar employed a theoretical approach in analyzing the purpose and ways through which people take user-generated content. The findings indicated that individuals (1) consumed content for information, mood management, and entertainment, (2) partici...