On the "Localness" of User-Generated Content

The "localness" of participation in repositories of user-generated content (UGC) with geospatial components has been cited as one of UGC's greatest benefits. However, the degree of localness in major UGC repositories such as Flickr and Wikipedia has never been examined. We show that over 50 percent of Flicicr users contribute local information on average, and over 45 percent of Flickr photos are local to the photographer. Across four language editions of Wikipedia, however, we find that participation is less local. We introduce the spatial content production model (SCPM) as a possible factor in the localness of UGC, and discuss other theoretical and applied implications.