Study: Customers engagement with user-generated-content: How do customers use the possibility to create content

The study is based on the question how the customer use the possibility to create own content in times of Web 2.0. The online survey was based on a standardized questionnaire. The target group were end users who move in the social media and consume and create content. It was not possible to complete the questionnaire repeatedly and thus excluded a distortion of the results. A limitation is made via the IP address of the interviewee. With regard to answering the research question, the terms Web 2.0 and user-generated content are first defined for further understanding. User-generated content stands for media content, which is not created by the provider of a web offer, but by its users. It is understood as a number of contributions which deal with a company or product and do not originate from a professional source. According to the media content available on the internet, these can be roughly classified into the four categories of contributions: text, image, audio and video. The aim of the study in the context of this article is to find out how users use the user-generated content. If a customer is looking for a product and is not well informed about the subject, other customers are able to help. Not only are simple assessment figures important, but also experiences and impressions about the respective product. The term “user-generated content” refers to the content of a website created by its users and includes, for example, the comments in blogs, the contributions to forums or the reactions to social network pages.