April 1st, 2007
Yahoo on the fringe! The big Y Goes underground, big time
Shouldn’t the holy grail of UGC, User Generated Content, really be all about the Users, as in user culture, as opposed to corporate culture?
YES, and Yahoo gets it, big time, with the launch of “Yahoo Underground,” a funky, seeking to be no holds barred first-hand trip inside of “unexplored worlds,” guided by Brad Miskell and enhanced by USERS LIKE YOU!
Under the auspices of Yahoo News, Yahoo Underground announces:
America is a gigantic collection of subcultures: fans, hobbyists, collectors, obsessives. We're all on the fringes. The aim of Underground is to explore those fringes, tassel by tassel, and have some fun.
Brad embeds himself in fringe cultures so he can share the most outlandish stories of people pursuing their passions. He scours big cities and back waters alike to bring us some incredible tales…along with “rock-and-raconteur” original music.
Brad also underscores “The coolest part about Underground is that we’re looking to you, dear reader, to help us feed the beast”:
We’ll be scouring the planet and we want your goods — send us your awesome photos and videos as they relate to the subcultures we’re covering. Or contribute media about your own strangely compelling passions. After all, today we’re covering Trekkies, tomorrow could be your Aunt Myrtle’s lawnmower racing and speed-metal club. And if it’s not for you, that’s fine — we call it Underground for a reason.
Go ahead, let your freak flag fly.
HOW?
Flickr Underground “Share your weirdest, wildest photos with the world!"
We're featuring photos from this group in a badge on our website, and we may occasionally show off other photos in blog posts as well. This group is monitored by humans, so if you post tasteless, offensive or illegal photos, we'll remove you and your pics from this group and our website.
Otherwise, come back and post often, and have fun!
Jumpcut Underground "Make your own Sci-Fi video"
We always shoot more than we use, so we've made all of our footage available on JumpCut for you to mix and mash however you want. If it's good we might even feature it.
Odd News Underground at Yahoo News
“Officials bar Rabbi’s matzo-making bus”
"Outcry cancels chocolate Jesus show”
“Bello the clown broken over lost bike”
Yahoo’s new Underground UGC initiative contrasts with what I have been calling brand sponsored UGC.
In Super Bowl 2007: Social media kickoff last November, I characterized the philosophy to-date of many “users are in control” intitiatives as really being all about directing the development of brand-focused, although “user-involved,” content, for the direct marketing profit of specific corporate properties.
I defined brand-focused “user-involved” content as:
Promotional fare “created” by “users” at the behest and direction of corporate brands and designed to support the marketing and communications missions of the sponsoring corporations.
Yahoo, however, today, invites all to let their “freak flag fly,” and appears to mean it!
ALSO: Google vs. Yahoo smackdown: Do you dare?
