Il capitale umano. Il lavoro delle audience nei connective media: tra user generated content (UGC) e professional generated content (PGC)

Abstract

In the last decade, connective media has created new forms of digital economic circulation based on disintermediation, cooperation, content creation and sharing, which have become fundamental to everyday life and communication practices during a period of crisis. Within this new scenario, digital disruption has generated new sharing experiences and realized the regime of a gig economy. As a matter of fact, the “platform society” equates to that of prosumer capitalism: digital circulation affects audience experience in terms of prosumption, turning the users into potential content creators. Thanks to the pervasiveness and familiarity of “connected media”, individuals may practice their creativity and experiment with their ability as content producers. The article aims to examine this transition with respect to a specific online platform, You-Tube, where audiences continuously experiment with the condition of being both consumers and producers, investing time and skills (i.e. digital labour) in an immaterial, collaborative work, ultimately resulting in the shift from user generated content (UGC) to professional generated content (PGC).