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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: user generated content

user generated content stories: 12 news summaries

 Google Ditches 
 Mapmakers, 
 Hires ... You? 

Google ditches industry giant for user content, and others follow

Nov 17, 09 9:56 AM CST
(Newser) - 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... More »

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Google • user generated content • map • Google Maps • Tele Atlas • digital maps • OpenStreetMap • mapmaking • cartogropher

OPINION

 Fickle User Base 
 May Doom Facebook 

Users with no brand loyalty are a shaky foundation to build a long-lasting business on

Sep 17, 09 10:24 AM CDT
(Newser) - 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... More »

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social networking • Internet • MySpace • user generated content • Facebook • profits • Internet startups • Twitter

 How the Lolcat Empire 
 Keeps Growing 

'There's no way on the planet this should actually work,' says Huh

Aug 16, 09 4:58 PM CDT
(Newser) - 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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Internet • user generated content • viral video • blogs

 Publishers Turn Internet 
 Laughs Into Fast Cash 

User-generated content sites can have publishers pounce within days

Apr 18, 09 8:03 AM CDT
(Newser) - 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"... More »

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user generated content • blogging • publishing • blog • blogger • I Can Haz Cheezburger • book deal

(Newser) - 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... More »

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Google • YouTube • user generated content • paid content • Hulu

 Hit Website in 
 France Revels 
 in Humiliation 

Self-professed losers share the pain on Vie De Merde

Mar 21, 09 11:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - 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... More »

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Internet • user generated content • France • website • schadenfreude

Fake Deaths May Force Changes in Wikipedia

Site considers
blocking users
from direct edits

Jan 27, 09 1:57 AM CST
(Newser) - 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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Internet • Wikipedia • Jimmy Wales • user generated content • encyclopedia

 YouTube Partners Carve Out Niche, Rake In Cash

Sharing ad revenue boosts income for YouTube and lets videomakers hone skills

Dec 11, 08 8:17 AM CST
(Newser) - 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... More »

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Google • Internet • YouTube • advertising • user generated content • online advertising • video • web video

Microsoft Opens Game Creation to Users

Games made by gamers for gamers coming to XBox Live

Feb 21, 08 4:01 AM CST
(Newser) - Microsoft says it's going to bring democracy to video game creation and distribution, MSNBC reports. Microsoft's game-making kit has been a popular download, and the company is now introducing a way for gamers to share the games they make with millions of fellow enthusiasts. They plan to launch a YouTube-style... More »

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Microsoft • user generated content • file sharing • gaming • Xbox 360 • Xbox Live • video games

Genealogy Site Wants to Swab Your Cheek

New service will allow members to submit DNA samples for comparison

Oct 23, 07 12:38 PM CDT
(Newser) - Now even dead ancestors can join the social networking craze. Their descendants, today’s consumers, can submit cheek swabs to genetics company GeneTree, which compares the DNA to its database and creates an interactive digital family tree. Users can post videos, photos, and link up with other members of their... More »

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social networking • user generated content • genes • gene pool • DNA database • genealogy

(Newser) - The Software & Information Industry Association has rolled out its list of the top 10 e-commerce developments of the past decade:
  1. Google (Sept. 1998)
  2. Broadband Penetration of U.S. Internet Users Reaches 50% (June 2004)
  3. eBay Auctions (launched Sept. 1997)
  4. Amazon.com (IPO May 1997):
  5. Google Ad Words
... More »

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Google • eBay • broadband Internet • user generated content • iTunes • list • BlackBerry • open standards • SIIA • WiFi • AdSense • Amazon.com

MTV Meets Web 2.0 Halfway

Will user-generated content, viral videos, be fountain of youth?

Apr 17, 07 1:26 PM CDT
(Newser) - MTV is fighting an unprecedented drop-off in ratings by tapping straight into the YouTube generation. The revamped bastion of youth culture will be less cable channel and more media hub, letting its teen viewers decide—and create—what they want to see, while keeping them connected to their digital world. More »

MORE ABOUT:
television • media • Internet • YouTube • MTV • user generated content • pop culture

12 Stories


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