Here at Avvo, we often talk about the benefits of user-generated content (“UGC”) – i.e., how there is tremendous wisdom in the masses. Here is an interesting CNN article on UGC potentially run amok on a website called JuicyCampus. According to the article:

JuicyCampus’ endless threads of anonymous innuendo have been a popular Web destination on the seven college campuses where the site launched last fall, including Duke, UCLA and Loyola Marymount. It recently expanded to 50 more, and many of the postings show they’ve been viewed hundreds and even thousands of times.

But JuicyCampus has proved so poisonous there are signs of a backlash.

In campus debates over Internet freedom, students normally take the side of openness and access. This time, however, student leaders, newspaper editorials and posters on the site are fighting back — with some even asking administrators to ban JuicyCampus. It’s a kind of plea to save the students, or at least their reputations, from themselves.

Ultimately, it is only for the consumers of sites like JuicyCampus to determine whether the site is valuable. However, my bet is that sites that do not have at least some bar for the quality of their UGC will collapse under their own weight. Only time will tell, but that is why at Avvo we have published guidelines for client reviews and make sure that a human reviews every client review before it is posted. Also, if an attorney disputes a review, we will moderate the dispute to ensure that the client stands by his/her review. Such quality control is expensive, but we think it is worth it for the long-term health of the Avvo marketplace.

Mark

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 at 7:10 pm by Mark Britton, CEO and is filed under Mark Britton Posts, User Experience. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.