Along with Craigslist, MySpace, and the blogosphere itself, YouTube.com has emerged as one of the signature consumer services of the Web 2.0 era. The video-sharing site has become the go-to place for the clip of the moment, be it a political satire, a goofy personal comedy sketch, or a live shot of an unfolding disaster. Out of nowhere it's become one of the most popular sites on the net, and so far it has outpaced even Google in the internet video game.

Some critics say that YouTube has leapt to the top by virtue of a laissez-faire attitude towards copyright. The most popular clips at any given moment are often TV shows of one sort or another, and such videos are removed only upon request of the copyright holder. That can take a little while, and in the meantime thousands or even millions of viewers might have seen it already.

I don’t really have an opinion on this question, but it does point to an issue that I think about every day: what is the relationship between "professional" content and "user-generated" content in the new world of media?

User-generated content is all the rage these days, for both philosophical and economic reasons. It represents the liberating power of the internet, the destruction of the media gatekeepers' control over what people see and read – and therefore is to be applauded on principle. It's also a nice business model for the companies involved: very few cranky editors and artists to pay and placate, no royalty fees or union contracts to worry about.

The problem with user-generated content, of course, is that most of it isn't much good. I spent just a few minutes this morning looking at non-professional videos on YouTube, and most of the random ones I looked at – even the ones on the 'most-viewed' list – were beyond bad. It may be fun to share your videos with your friends, but creating something for people who are not your friends is a rather different matter. The fact that commercials are quite popular on YouTube and other video-sharing sites is more than anything a testament to the power of the professionally produced.

Now that digital cameras, camcorders and simple publishing software are relatively inexpensive and readily accessible, it's only natural that there should be an explosion of media creation. But while shooting a picture or a video or writing a blog entry and posting it on the internet is easy, telling a compelling and engaging story is as difficult as it ever was. Journalism or TV writing may not be rocket science, but they're not quite as simple as they sometimes seem to be.

As a social phenomenon – hey, friends, check out this cool video! – user-generated content will certainly have an important place. And when it comes to news, the ubiquity of cameras in general means that on-the-scene photos and videos from non-professionals will be an increasingly important part of the mix.

But professionally produced media will continue to be where most people turn for their news and entertainment – and in my experience, what will be most important is not necessarily user-generated content per se, but rather a new genre that I think of as semi-professional or pre-professional content.

In the old world, there were huge barriers to entry in the media world – you needed expensive equipment and/or access to a closed distribution system (a newspaper or a TV network) to get your stuff out there. That meant you needed to get a job with a media company, and such jobs were always in short supply. Now it’s possible for someone with talent and dedication, but perhaps without the connections or experience required to land a job at a big media company, to show their stuff.

Such people might have a day job, but that doesn't mean they don't want to get paid for their talent and dedication. I'm sure that YouTube will create some stars, and it won't be long before those folks are not so inclined to give their stuff away for free on YouTube. In a world of distributed media, there will be a continuum running from the highly paid, proven professionals to the kids fooling around in their bedroom. It's the middle of that continuum that I'll be keeping an eye on.

Jonathan Weber is the founder and editor in chief of NewWest.Net, a new type of regional news and information service focused on the Rocky Mountain West in the United States. He was previously the co-founder and editor in chief of the Industry Standard

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