Each of these barriers can be negotiated, of course, but it will require persistent vision on the part of a station manager to make it happen. For example, local affiliates are under constant pressure to reduce operational costs of reporting stories. A station that can attract a participatory audience interested in local issues can significantly increase their investigative footprint: imagine if the guys at TPMCafe had a show on CNN……

As KrizBiz said - the “long view” is sorely lacking in broadcasting.

And ‘newsworthy’ is defined by how many others view the content. Create communities around the stories and foster more and better submissions by also training and nurturing the best submitters…eventually it becomes self perpetuating in my estimation.

Most UGC offers are centered around the chance to become famous or get on-air. Cash could be the difference, and worth it if the content gets better, attracts audience and is monetized accordingly.

This is the ultimate hyper-local play. It also requires the long view, something sorely lacking in broadcasting.
Newspaper will be doing this effectively first - if I had to bet.

Definitely not YouTube.

The idea of a contest would generate buzz and if the “prize” were to be featured on a weekend afternoon clip show, it’d not only cost very little to promote, but additional income could be derived from the broadcast ads.

Also, there has to be some definition from the station.

The idea of contests lends itself to a local YT and the topic could be “managed” with specific categories (i.e. “Hidden Hometowns”, “Hanging-Out”, “Hometown Heroes”, all inaddition to the more “fun” categories)

And, if the station wants news, they may occasionally get some quality product from a viewer, but they’re never going to get YT numbers. Not only because of the limitation of a small base, but a good video of a tornado or something spectacular would be snapped-up by an outlet, a specialized site, or it’ll be posted to YT to satisfy the voyeurs.

Dr. Bruce@Athens

P.S. How do you start a new topic? I am VERY interested in local TV station managers’ views toward interactive television which is being rolled out right now.

The key is providing a unique experience that, while related to the main station in question, can only be had on this LocalYouTube or whatever it is.

Now, anybody can post video on the web. It’s no longer cool or unique, so where’s the incentive for posters?

contests, weddings, classifieds, directories… heck, you’d think there’s a refocused effort afoot to recreate the LOCAL portal.

so much for boisenews.com

Bingo

and a damn good added revenue stream from work you are already producing?

it’s a monkey-see monkey-do world out there. make it happen in one city and the viral nature of the web will have it spread not only nation wide but globally.

quit thinking small.

the great thing about the net is you can try everything knowing most will not work.

the problem i see clearly is that many are set up in a manner and fashion that they CAN NOT succeed thereby prompting responses like #4.

i’m not saying that was the case in this instance, but it sure sounds familiar.

but don’t let that be an excuse to do NOTHING either.

i would suggest reading arrianna huffington’s “news 2.0″ and see that even moving the web from print to video will have its own detractors from within.

i just read her lastest piece and didn’t see V-I-D-E-O mentioned once.

How much of YouTube is “citizen journalism”? Exactly. If you want a larger response, develop a product that people in a younger demo would ACTUALLY send stuff to.

Maybe a local version of “Funnist Home Videos” is a start…
The High School sports thing could be another big one.

First of all, the national sites have a bigger pool, while there’s hundreds of local sites with a limited audience/submission base. And this small base also works against the more cockamamie submissions because they are so localized, there’s a much higher chance that your grandmother or the guy at the drugstore will see the film of you burping the alphabet. While with the national sites, the likelihood exists that no one you know or who might recognize you, your mother or your house will ever see the clip.

Also and again, I have no statistics, but I’m under the impression that most local video sites actually have to approve the clip before it’s posted. Of course the pretense is that it must be checked for obscenity or blatant advertising, but most T&C pages that I’ve read, also state that the clip must be of interest to a larger audience. So, before it’ll actually be seen by anyone, you have to first impress the person approving the clips and I’m sure that extra step makes some people think twice about submitting.

After all, if you first have to get past the geek and you may even have to do a site registration with your real name; Then you’re only left with a video that’ll be seen by a tiny handful of people, many of who are your friends, neighbors, the folks from your Garden Club or possibly burglars looking for a rich person to rob.

That’s why I can easily see the anonymity and instant gratification of the big sites always having an advantage. Plus, again, they have access to the whole pie, not just a small slice, so their numbers will always be greater and Google can afford to be less guarded with their reputation, therefore they don’t have to vet the clips.