Trebor Scholz in his article “What the MySpace generation should know about working for free” talks about user generated content as free labor. That the seldom found “rags to riches” story (such as Tila Tiquila) has disillusioned many into thinking that their YouTube videos or MySpace will get them fame and fortune. This disillusionment serves as motivation for the hours of “labor” spend on their sites with the goal of attracting more hits/fans/followers etc., but in succeeding they are also getting hits (which translates into money) for the parent site.
What is wrong with this? These sites provide services, allow people put themselves and their content on the internet. If people want to spend their time using these [mostly] free services so be it, but why shouldn’t someone be rewarded in some way for these services? These sites provide [mostly] free services, and the creators are rewarded for their work and ideas monetarily (and when the site/company grows the employees investors etc as well). We live in a world where services provided are seldom free, and at least most of the “sociable web” is free for the user (minus some annoying ads).
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