Knowledge@Wharton offers an interesting analysis of what appears to be a competition between experts and amateurs as information providers. The piece notes many of the sources I have cited in previous posts (e.g. Revenge of the Experts, Cult of the Amateur).
The analysis notes that despite recent criticism of user generated content money is still moving toward sites that cultivate the generation of user content (e.g., News Corp purchase of MySpace). The Wharton analysis offers comments from business professionals reaching a variety of conclusions. Among the comments, the recognition that the desired for vetted information is one motivation and the desire to express one’s opinion is another (my interpretation).
Some conclusions:
Ultimately, the tug of war between professional and user-generated content will be resolved by their business models.
…
The problem: It’s unclear whether consumers will pay for content — no matter how good it is.
“The big challenge is the economic problem. What funded the traditional content model is falling apart,” says Whitehouse. “Ideally, I see Internet content being a blend of professional and amateur content, but how do we develop an economic model that supports both?” (Kendall Whitehouse, senior director of IT at Wharton)
