UGC on NPR (User Generated Content)

Listening to NPR again. As usual. My addiction, or one of them. Well, addictions shouldn't be taken lightly, but I digress...

NPR just did a segment about UGC, user generated content. It's still playing on All Things Considered so I can't link it in just yet.

I don't know about you but I utilize UGC for marketing ideas. I use UGC sites for keeping in contact with people I haven't physically seen in years. I'm involved in UGC communities consisting of mothers who gave birth in 2006, marketers and SEO specialists, videographers using 8mm film, and, of course, I have a myspace page. So UGC is central to my social life - hey, I have an almost 6 month old, social events are difficult to frequent.

Marketers are looking for ways to cash in on this new UGC concept. Only, the UGC concept isn't new. The application is new, the technology is new, but the concept is not so much. Decades ago ad execs would run "contests" for amateur jingle creation for one.

I'll be watching the Super Bowl this weekend, as will millions of others. I won't be watching for the game though. As with every year that teams I don't particularly care about compete I watch for the commercials, the ads, the ones we'll all be discussing days and weeks after the game has been won (or lost). Sad though it may seem it's the ONLY time I watch tv for commercials. That's what DVR is for :)

What do you think of UGC?
Do you use it in a business manner?
If you were to gauge the future of UGC where do you see it progressing?