• by Lydia Loizides , Op-Ed Contributor, November 8, 2006

A word to the wise--step back and take a breath.  I had the pleasure of moderating a panel this morning on Web 2.0 Video, where the buzz was about user-generated content, new technologies and tools that allow people to upload and publish--and how content owners could monetize this wave of consumer content. The panel was comprised of a great group of vendors--Brightcove, vivadee, PalTalk, WhiteBlox, and Motionbox.

As the moderator, I was tasked with making this event as entertaining and informative as possible; but as an analyst, strategist and technologist, I am going to have to say that despite great-looking user interfaces and well-thought-out pitches, we are far from the promised land, for the following reasons:

1. There is a huge difference between real-time, user-generated content and canned commercialized content. The control that you lack and the red flags that can be raised around "adult"-type content is a very real issue. No technology has, to date, been able to assuage the very real fears of many advertisers (and self-regulation of the community by moderators or volunteers won't cut it)

2. Not one of the companies stepped up and talked about COPA (the Child Online Protection Act) --astonishing.

3. Search is still an afterthought for many--from the technologists to the audience members who, again, seem to be forgetting who's in the eye of this content storm: the consumer.

You see, what the various constituents are failing to acknowledge is that the speed of acceleration in this market is outpacing even the most savvy marketer's and advertiser's ability to get handle on not only where to get into the game, but more important,  how and why to get into the game.  So before we start down the path of thinking about reach and frequency and target audiences, let's take a step back and ask some very basic questions:

Am I going to use this platform or consumer behavior as a means to push my message or pull insight?

Where does the brand sit on the risk scale--high or low? If it is low, then what does the strategy look like? Same for high-risk.

What are the economics--both cost and revenue?

And most important, if the experiment or campaigns fails to produce the desired result, can I afford to be wrong? What will the impact be--cost, internal perception, consumer experience, and on-brand equity?

You see, one of the panel members summed it up perfectly. He called it a time of "energized chaos." And as anyone who has studied chaos theory knows, the object of the game is to find the order in chaos. I am proposing that it is time to start looking for the order of things. Wouldn't you agree? You tell me.