Is UGC Savior Or A Bane?

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

User generated content (UGC) has been trumpeted as the way to move ahead for a lot of websites. There are plenty of sites that have used UGC to move up and take the lead in their respective niches: YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, the list could go on. But there are just as many perhaps that have had their bad experiences. One recent example is the Skittles brouhaha.

You do have to be careful with user generated content (UGC), especially if you have a particular image that you are trying to keep. Not everyone is going to play nice.

UGC has its positives and, as Skittles saw, its downside. The bright side is it is great search engine optimization. Get several thousand people putting content on your site every day and you move up in the SERPs fast. But you also lose control of your website and your content. You have to weigh the benefits with the drawbacks. Is it worth it in the long run to take that kind of risk? Only you can answer that question.