What the rise of user-generated content means for traditional media giants and their advertisers

What the rise of Social Networking & User-Generated Content means for Traditional Media Giants and their Advertisers

In the next few pages, we talk to some of the key players in our media network about the changing face of user-generated conttent including video sharing, writing reviews and photo sharing. We assess the challenges faced by traditional companies as they move deeper online, and we ask the all-important question: can they take their advertisers and income streams with them?

With membership of 200 million, the population of MySpace is greater than all but a handful of countries. Its peers, Facebook, Bebo and LinkedIn, are expanding rapidly, confirming the huge global appeal of professional and social networking.

Chatting to friends and customising profiles aren't the only ways in which users are seizing control of the web's growth hotspots. Whether video sharing on YouTube, photo sharing on Flickr, contributing articles to Wikipedia or writing reviews, ratings and blogs, the rise of user-generated content is unmissable.

In a world where content is king and attention is scarce, no media company - and no advertiser - can afford to ignore the millions who are embracing social media by avidly consuming text, pictures and films created not by media professionals but by 'people like me'.