In Users like you? Theorizing Agency in user generated content, José van Dijck shows the impact of user participation on the creation and consumption of media. 

José van Dijck argues that with the invention of the internet, reception transitioned from medium-dependent to broad usage. He argues that the need for user agency, specifically participatory engagement rather than passive consumption, is what drives media today.  In Google’s 2006 $1.6 billion acquisition of YouTube, for example, it was the users, not the technology, that brought the value. This newfound agency redistributes the power of media from large companies to everyday individuals. “The result is a participatory culture which increasingly demands room for ordinary citizens to wield media technologies – technologies that were once the privilege of capital-intensive industries – to express themselves and distribute those creations as they see fit,” van Dijck writes. This allows media to highlight diverse voices and form communities of like-minded users. But just because everyone can create on the internet now, does not mean that everyone does. Research has found that significantly less people create than interact on the internet. In fact, 80% of all users are passive recipients of content. Despite this statistic, modern business strategy is now adapting to allow for more user power over content.  

With the widespread power to create and distribute content online, van Dijck asks a thought-provoking question: “What role do platform providers play in steering the agency of users and communities?” While it is true that media platforms are becoming increasingly influenced by consumers, at the end of the day, these platforms are businesses, and they rely on people to consume their service. This reminds me of recent cases in the news where Facebook has come under fire for taking down some users’ posts. I wonder – can a truly user-generated content platform exist? Or will they always require some type of mediation?