ATAR Survival Guide

User Generated Content (UGC) is where voluntary contributors can publish online content. Some popular examples include:

Free - the website owner does not have to pay staff to produce content
General Feedback is Seen as Reliable - General user opinions can be viewed a valuable towards feedback and decision making - eg checking the rating of a restaurant before deciding where to eat
Self policing opportunities - forums can be monitored by voluntary moderators
Keeps users engaged - users often participate with discussions with one another, keeping users engaged and increasing the number of returned users

Bias - users often hold strong opinions about a topic and often don't contribute a balance perspective
Lack of reliability and creditability - anyone can publish content from a 5 year old to a University professor, therefore, user generated content has to be taken with a pinch of salt. There's no guarantee that information presented in user generated content is factual and is why Wikipedia has a poor reputation and often avoided in referencing
Online Defamation risk - users can publish false, offensive or inappropriate content, which could pose a legal liability towards the website owner. In February, 2016, an online user on TripAdvisor, wrote a defaming review of Gold Coast hotel - Paradise Resort. Such comments could negatively impact the business by deterring future guests from staying at the hotel.
Confusion over Intellectual Property - who owns user generated content? There is often confusion over who owns user generated content and how it can be used?