NAB 2008: UGC Moves to Mainstream
Panelists: User-Generated Content Vital for Extending Channels’ Reach
By Michael Malone -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/15/2008 12:05:00 PM
Las Vegas -- User-generated content is no longer restricted to entertaining oddities such as pet tricks and Mentos-Diet Coke explosions, and it is a vital way to extend a channel’s reach, said the speakers in the Radio-Television News Directors Association session here, “Making User-Generated Content Part of Your Overall Strategy, Online and On Air.”
The speakers represented CNN, Current TV, WPBT Miami and Citizen Correspondents.
CNN.com senior vice president Mitch Gelman spoke of the cable network’s citizen-journalism-focused iReport platform helping CNN to break news in media-restricted places like Thailand and Myanmar.
WPBT interactive manager Maximilian Duke spoke of putting together the public broadcasting station’s UVU (pronounced “you view”) initiative on a shoestring budget.
The speakers agreed that UGC can and will play a bigger part in the channels’ on-air product and will further the connection with viewers.
“The key is really integrating it into the fabric of your television station,” said Citizen Correspondents CEO Rosemary Danon, formerly of Pappas Telecasting. “It’s yours for the taking to really own your part of the community.”
For complete coverage of the 2008 NAB Show, click here.
