The latest trend on the user-generated content and social networking front seems to be a foray into the world of advertising. Could this be the new revolution in online advertising? Or is it just a trend that'll fizz out as the novelty wears off?

A good example of this is companies encouraging users to come up with ads that match a particular theme or slogan...though hardly any of these amateur efforts, however creative make it to media besides the Internet. Of course, inadvertant amateur ads do create a splash at times, especially on video sharing sites like Google Video, etc which are fast gaining popularity.

The ultimate result of this trend is likely to be a 'controlled chaos' approach by companies wanting to get their brand and message out to the public, with as little distortion as possible.

"But that may be about to change, advertising executives say, as marketers wake up to the popularity of user-generated content and social networking and acknowledge that on the Internet, controlling the message is often no longer possible anyway"

Related Article: On Advertising: A move to anarchy - Business - International Herald Tribune

tags: marketing, advertising, hospitality, internet, video, spoofs, ads