user generated content news stories on Newser

YouTube Creating 'Day in the Life' of the World

Jane Yager — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:29:45 CDT

Want to be in a YouTube movie directed by Kevin Macdonald and produced by Ridley Scott? Record your ordinary daily life on July 24, upload it to YouTube, and you just might end up in the feature-length documentary "Life in a Day," a compilation of user-submitted footage from around the...

Google Ditches Mapmakers, Hires ... You?

Harry Kimball — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:56:51 CST

Online maps that depend on user-generated content are growing at quite a clip, even threatening the more traditional purveyors of digital cartography. The famously canny Google marked the transition last month by dropping map company Tele Atlas from its US maps, opting to rely on free info provided by the...

Fickle User Base May Doom Facebook

Rob Quinn — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:24:36 CDT

These are rosy times for Facebook, but there's no guarantee the social networking juggernaut will even be around 5 years from now, Gary Andrew Poole writes for True/Slant. The newly profitable site is riding high, with 300 million users. But as fallen giants like AOL and veterans of the dot....

How the Lolcat Empire Keeps Growing

Wesley Oliver — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:58:01 CDT

Ben Huh knows how to fail upward, and has a rather simple explanation for the success of his Web empire: “Dude, I think it’s funny.” The former journalist, 31, is the maverick behind at least 20 smirking sites, including I Can Has Cheesburger? and FAIL Blog, which showcases photos and...

Publishers Turn Internet Laughs Into Fast Cash

Rob Quinn — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 08:03:00 CDT

The blog-to-book cycle is speeding up as publishers seek fast cash from Internet funnies, the New York Times reports. Sites like Pets Who Want to Kill Themselves —featuring user-submitted photos of pets in bizarre outfits—have gone from startup to print in a matter of weeks, with the "authors" doing...

This Kid Holds YouTube's Death Rattle

Will McCahill — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 19:23:08 CDT

Hey, you! Yes, you, the guy who keeps posting video of your nephew batting a ball into your brother’s family jewels. You’re going to kill YouTube, warns Benjamin Wayne of Silicon Alley Insider. Owner Google will lose $470 million this year on YouTube because, he writes, “less and less of...

Hit Website in France Revels in Humiliation

Rob Quinn — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 11:06:45 CDT

A website inviting users to share tales of misery and humiliation has become one of the most popular sites in France, the Wall Street Journal reports. The editors of "Vie de merde"—roughly, "a crappy life"—sift through about 1,000 submissions a day and post those that strike a...

Fake Deaths May Force Changes in Wikipedia

Rob Quinn — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:57:20 CST

The greatly exaggerated deaths of Sens. Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy last week on Wikipedia has sparked a push for a radical change in how the site's information is edited, Wired reports. The edits, traditionally open to all users, gave the false impression that both lawmakers had died. Founder Jimmy...

YouTube Partners Carve Out Niche, Rake In Cash

Rob Quinn — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 08:17:04 CST

YouTube's "partnership" deal with users is generating cash for both sides, the New York Times reports. Splitting ad revenues helps YouTube avoid the copyright kerfuffles that have hamstrung much of its moneymaking potential. Hundreds of partners are making thousands of dollars a month, the company says, allowing some self-made celebs...