• by Robert Formentin , June 16, 2008

Much has been written about the social evolution of the Web. Too often, though, many generalize and define all its activity as user generated content (UGC). I'll attempt to make some sense of it in its current state.

User Generated Media, which encompasses all user generated content (UGC) has grown so significantly that it has begun to split into three primary Social frameworks: Social Media, Social Networking and Social Knowledge; here is a review of the differences with a focus on the most unique of the three: Social Knowledge.

Social Media was the first stage of Web 2.0 and is essentially driven by blogs, comprised of personal, corporate and thematic (or vertical) blogs - a tapestry of voices who share their knowledge with the world, at whatever schedule, style, and goals each writer desires. This is, the core of the Web 2.0 revolution and a radical departure from the centuries-old one-way publishing paradigm. A writer is still challenged to produce quality material, but achieving some level of exposure is easier than ever before.

Social Networking. Sites like Facebook and MySpace host the online "social" identities of millions of people, allowing them to share with friends and colleagues. LinkedIn does the same in the business realm, creating the ultimate in limitless business networking. The obsession with privacy has given way to a "Here I Am!" mentality. These sites allow users to keep tabs on hundreds of people, regardless of their geographical proximity or, whether or not the friendship is deep or casual.

Social Knowledge. Whereas Social Media is amorphous (the basic "unit" is simply whatever I choose to write) and Social Networking is egocentric (the "unit" is, well, me), Social Knowledge is informative (the "unit" is an article or an answer). It's a framework where anyone - not exclusively experts- can educate other people by sharing what they know.

Referred to as "the wisdom of crowds," this new approach values distributed or collective knowledge, aggregating the learning of millions of people and creating a well-rounded and dynamic knowledge base.

Current sites include the encyclopedic (like Wikipedia, written and edited by the masses) and the growing collection of Q&A sites, including Yahoo Answers, WikiAnswers. While all Q&A sites are different, the basic principle is that one person submits a question to the system and someone else answers. The resulting content not only helps the asker, but is made available to the general community. Everyone benefits from this sharing of knowledge.

How is the Web organizing this vast and growing knowledge base?

The types of answers on a Q&A site can be broken down into three main categories: Factual, Opinion or Advice.

On Yahoo!Answers, Answerbag and Askville, answers are posted in a message board format from which the best answers is chosen. The question is then "sealed" and all ranked answers remain in the listing, regardless of their validity. WikiAnswers leverages the same wiki philosophy as Wikipedia, allowing its community to improve questions and answers by adding, removing and editing content in both the question and the answer. The answers remain "alive" forever so they can continue to be improved rather than becoming obsolete.

How can marketers leverage Social Knowledge?

It's key for advertisers to realize that within the social knowledge platform, users are actively looking for information regardless of the source, and therefore soliciting feedback. Social Media and Social Networking sites offer big audiences, but marketers are really "uninvited" guests as their messages can be seen as an intrusion.

Many brand sites are using Q&A to provide information to visitors, but often this information is hidden and of little value. Becoming a source of "qualified" answers through a Q&A site presents marketers with an opportunity to provide a service to consumers by partnering or answering questions.

It's a way to get answers in front of thousands of consumers, promote a marketer as a trusted advisor and extend a brand's visibility. Many of the questions being asked can also provide a view into how consumers relate to individual brands -- whether they understand them, use them or need more information about them -- a focus group of sorts with potentially immense value.

Brands should seize the opportunity to engage consumers at this crucial moment. While the critique in relation to quality will always apply across social sites, it does not eliminate their value. While some user-generated content sites will continue to struggle with issues involving irresponsible content contributors, social knowledge Q&A sites with hundreds of supervisors employing the tools and strategy to keep vigilant watch over the content will succeed, by encouraging constructive and helpful answers while enabling a vast community to self-correct, enhance and improve answers. Social knowledge Q&A sites will evolve, but their promise will remain: providing the world with wisdom one question at a time.