Live Blogging Media ‘08: Vicky Taylor
Vicki is the Editor of Interactivity at the BBC News in London. She and the Al Jazeera rep were two of the speakers that most influenced me to come to this conference.
She started with a video about the recent uprisings in Burma and the content the BBC received from hundreds of audience members worldwide. “The Internet became an underground railroad for the Information Age.” “The speed of the information crackdown was matched by the speed of information flowing into [the BBC].”
Next a video about floods in the UK and the thousands of pictures received from the public, including two hundred pieces of video. Became the largest interactive news story the company ever covered — interactivity allowed a level of detail unprecedented in traditional media, including interactive maps showing rainfall, community footage, etc.
How can we ensure the quality of content given it’s the BBC platforms?
Serious journalistic editorial authentication of all UGC on the BBC. 13 journalists have a full-time job (24/7) vetting all the content. If you want to use UGC as reliable content, you have to invest in making sure the quality stays the same — this is not a cost-cutting measure.
How can we maintain trust in the brand when we’re using UGC?
Study response: “The public are broadly in favor of UGC, but prefer it to be vetted by journalists before publication or broadcast.” People do understand the concept, but there are quite a few people who don’t know how to participate; that’s an opportunity for us. If people don’t know how to participate, companies with global footprints can tell them how.
Of people they spoke with, an astonishing one in five had participated in UGC.
People won’t engage with you if they don’t trust you. (she said that; I say it all the time too)
