I discussed in my post Welcome to the New, User Generated Non stop Media Whipsaw, how user generated content and participatory journalism can stir the pot of news coverage, impacting the spread of news and the course of events that are being covered.
In theory, the trend in user generated content should be a boon to PR. After all, if we are brutally honest with ourselves, hasn’t PR always been all about User Generated News? Crafting interesting stories and content is part of our DNA.
There are obviously pitfalls. Not just PR agencies have access to these mechanisms. Anyone and everyone does: ad agencies, new media agencies, companies and consumers.
There are also unintended consequences. The events of the day – Digg caught up in a controversy because of DVD encryption code hacks being Dugg on the site, reader response to Digg’s initial decision to kill the story, and Digg’s reversal on this (see BBC Story DVD DRM row sparks user rebellion, and mea culpa from Digg founder Kevin Rose: Digg This: 09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0) and Chase fuming over a YouTube video about a data breach (see Consumer Affairs article: YouTube Video Purports To Show Discarded Bank Documents) seem almost all too predictable in hindsight.
It just goes to show you, it will be the Wild West out there for awhile as all stakeholders wrestle with the rules of engagement and new realities of the user driven, user generated news world.
