108 Million Content Creators by 2012

Emarketer predicts that there will 108 million people creating user generated content by 2012:

The number of people who create so-called “user-generated” content will rise from 77 million in 2007 to 108 million in 2012. More baffling yet, the ranks of people who consume this content will only rise from 94 million in 2007 to 130 million by 2012.

“US Internet users are creating and consuming user-generated content in record numbers,” says Paul Verna, eMarketer Senior Analyst and author of the new report, User-Generated Content: In Pursuit of Ad Dollars, “across an ever-expanding range of online content that includes video, audio, personal profiles, avatars, photo sharing, Wiki entries and product reviews.”

Beyond written blogs, established media outlets like CNN and MSNBC, as well as startups like video aggregator YouNewsTV, are empowering consumers to submit video clips and still images of unfolding events.

“Since many of the growing numbers of Internet users creating social media are also consuming it, this is a content chain that feeds on itself,” says Mr. Verna. “There is a seemingly infinite demand for content, and there are legions of Internet users armed with laptops, cell phones and digital cameras ready to deliver.”

That’s a lot of “fat kid with light saber” videos…