Trending User-Generated Content to Look Forward to in 2018

It has been apparent for quite some time that user-generated content receives better readership than most others. Why is that?

That’s because people value opinions by their peers and fellow users of a good or a service, more. The general feeling of ‘they are in the same boat as I am’ encourages readers to read more user-generated content.

Social Media - No social platform encourages so many users’ opinions, viewpoints, comments or criticism, as much as social media. People, all over the world, have been increasingly active on all social media platforms. Be it Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn or Wikipedia (or any Wiki, for that matter).

Video Sharing Apps./Sites - It has been reported that as of 2017, almost 70% of all user-generated content has been videos, shared on YouTube, Dailymotion, Metacafe, and Vimeo etc. The percentage of people posting video based user-generated content is expected to rise in 2018.

Mobile Friendly Content - Users tend to post content on their mobile apps. and are less inclined to post on user-generated apps that are difficult to access or have issues like frequent hang-ups or ads. Users repeatedly uninstall or remove apps. they find annoying. Applications like Snapchat, Twitter etc. are appropriate examples of this.

Hashtags - Hashtagged content on Twitter and Instagram receive more traffic than the ones without. Hashtags are used to involve a more diverse demographic and it’s the best way to reach out to a wider audience base. For example, the #metoo posts, which took the world by storm, by creating an online community of sexual abuse survivors, worldwide. The world community was baffled by the sheer magnitude of thousands of women and men posting their experiences with the #metoo.

Online / Offline Campaign based Content - Brands are increasingly designing campaigns that encourage user participation, for a prize of cash or kind. McDonald's and Coca-Cola are some of the brands which are known to devise various online/offline contests, games etc. that are known to garner enthusiastic reactions from people. Users are required to post some content related to the competition, and usually millions apply and participate in such platforms.
It is quite safe to predict that user-generated content will be trending, in a big way, come 2018. It can be expected that almost 80% - 90% of all online/offline content, will be user-generated, a couple of years into the future.

Nice post , i think just from psychological aspect " users " would rather hear about your product or service online from somebody who has used it and is not trying to sell it. This phenomenon has been around a while before websites and all that. this is why people who go into sales always talk about letting the product sell itself , if you try to actively sell a product its human nature , to be sceptical. Think of how we hate sales people in general lol . Content writing took up this uproach long ago , using phrases and questions that are agreeable to users or make them have to read more. But i like this , that you think its going to become a bigger feature in 2018 , even if not by lets say google giving it any ranking value ( which im sure they will once they can regulate and authratize such content.) The very fact the users will see their peers as you put it will do much for credibility and trust. I was thinking voice for 2018 before this , but now im not so sure .