Exploring User-Generated Digital Content Ecosystem: A Study of China’s Digital Celebrity Industry

This paper explores the user-generated digital content ecosystem. User-generated content (UGC) is not new in Information Systems. Nonetheless, few research has looked in-depth the value of these content beyond marketing purposes. Considering the increasing variety of content that users can produce and the ease of distribution, the content industry has long been adapting to the disruptions, realizing that these self-generated contents can bring challenging management issues. This paper offers an analysis of the recent emergence of digital celebrities, or Wanghong in China. By adopting value co-creation as the theoretical lens, this study aims to 1) expand the contemporary understanding of UGC as the core product of digital content industry, shedding light on the economic value of self-generated content as part of creative and cultural industry, and 2) articulate the evolution of the user-generated digital content ecosystem, providing an actionable view of ecosystem strategy.