The picture above should give you some ideas about the phenomenon I want to talk about: The Crowd Disruption.
The idea itself is fool-proof: More people equals more power. The mentioned service providers are considered as the best practices for User Generated Content (UGC) strategy. By successfully enabling individuals to create their own content, the firm can focus on their core strength, in this case is the digital tool, and create an entirely different experience for users at the same time. This is a win-win solution for everybody.
Imagine you’re the owner of a pizza store and want to make use of this concept. You rearrange the whole store: add in a few small stoves at designated tables, put in extra ingredients with a small locks. Instead of 3 cooks in the kitchen, you only hire just one guy who can overlook the business and collect a fixed sum for whoever wants to use the place. Your pizza store then turn into a gathering point, trading area for those who want to bake and sell for other hungry people. Now you want to expand the business and open the second store. With some help from an IT friend, you install a door code and whoever wants to access has to open with an application-generated number. Customers have to register online and pay electronically too. You hire a security company to monitor the stores 24/7. Your only part-time staff is the accountant girl. If you work hard enough, you might become the biggest pizza provider in town without hiring any chefs. Isn’t that cool?
Biggest pizza provider erhhhh?
So as a consumer, what is the entirely different experience? I bet all of us used Wikipedia at some points but not many people know that Wikipedia allows every one to contribute the content to it. With UGC strategy, Wikipedia has become the largest, most extensive encyclopedia that mankind has ever created.
Rather curious, I had my first attempt as a Wikipedia contributor yesterday. I added a section called “List of student associations” to my university’s Wiki page. It was pretty easy to edit the page even though my HTML skill is almost ground zero. From my point of view, it’s the sense of ownership gained from creating my own content that made me feel satisfied.
What do you think about UGC? Try to create/edit an entry in Wikipedia and tell me how it feels. Sharing is caring ❤
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