It's always more fun when you play with it

Call me John Kerry because I'm about to flip-flop. First blog of my young blogging career I ripped YouTube for it's citizen journalism and user generated content and now I'm pondering how our website can use that same content. I would issue a public apology but only a handful of people actually read this so we'll move on to what's important: getting user content.

Step one: cut a hole in a box… wait sorry wrong process. Step one is actually getting users. I don't know the exact number of viewers the station and website have but as the song in KUJH TV the musical goes "our tens of viewers will be pissed". There is no way to sugar coat it: WE NEED MORE USERS!

By default if you have enough users then you will get user feedback and content, as long as outlets are available for content and feedback.

I never thought I'd say this but I agree with Krista we need to make users aware that we are looking for them to take an active role. I don't know the best way to do this but saying something in the newscast and a pop-up on the website would be a start.

If our website was a fun as making a volcano then people might take more interest.

Making a more interactive website that allows users a hands on experience is the best way to drive user content. Remember how you hated science when you were a kid, until you did some experiment your teacher ripped off of Bill Nye. All the sudden science became fun because you were performing it instead of learning it.

This is what we have to do with the website. People are becoming less interested in traditional news because they don't have any part in it. If the website can be place where users can experiment with news, upload video, comment, make story ideas; then they might become more interested in news itself.