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MUMBAI:
User generated content (UGC) is the future of media, said
Mouthshut.com CEO Faisal Farooqui while speaking at the Promax/BDA
India conference in the session on 'User Generated Content
- The new media'.
Farooqui
emphasized that the need of the hour is to reach out to the
consumers. User generated content like blogs play a profound
source of information in daily life.
“With
blogs becoming popular day by day, the virtual wall of editor
between the publisher and the reader has vanished. There is
much more transparency for the readers and bloggers are free
to express themselves,” said Farooqui.
Farooqui
urged the need of existing media houses to adapt to this new
means of communication called UGC.
Refering
to Google’s acquisition of YouTube Farooqui said, “It is important for
all the media houses to secure a supply chain of content for them. The existing
players will have to assimilate new mediums to avoid their competition from taking
them over.”
Farooqui
said that the Indian broadcasters should learn a lesson that
75,000 videos with an average duration of six minutes each
are being downloaded daily on YouTube. This shows that there
is more content on YouTube than what any of the big media
houses have.
Citing
the example of CNN iReporter, Farooqui said: “CNN cut
short its man power and spent Rs 7 billion to launch iReporter,
an initiative wherein the viewers can post videos and blog
on the CNN website.”
Embracing
this medium will promote interactivity with the consumers. This will leave no
room for any communication gap between the viewers and the broadcasters. | 
