The media world has gone so ga-ga over blogs and wikis that now journalists are letting readers write their stories and advertisers are asking customers to supply their creative in return for prizes and/or recognition. For an example of the latter phenomenon, check out Geico's Golden Gecko contest.

Opines Adweek of consumer-generated advertising: "Involving consumers in the creative process goes against the grain of the agency mindset as brand stewards, but the payoff can be more authentic messages."

Although consumer-generated everything is being hyped like crazy these days, I don't think this is just a fad. The prevalence of low-cost production tools, combined with the public's seemingly unquenchable thirst for media attention, makes this likely to be much more than a cultural blip.