I agree with his premise and he does a nice job of taking the 40k foot view, and articulating how it all works together and how it has evolved.
The UGC space and crowd-sourcing are still very much alive... but the focus seems to have shifted from consumers creating the content, to their becoming a waypoint for the content as it spreads.The consumer's perceived value has become less that of an instigator and more as the kinetic energy needed to pass the messaging along.
A few years ago it was about the brand listening to and inserting itself in the social media conversations. But the pendulum seemed to have swung too far in one direction and is now coming back to center. The whole "consumers creating Doritos commercials because-they-can" thing is (hopefully) behind us. Sure consumers can generate content (UGC.CGC) but it seems like the more appropriate fit is for them to become a conduit to the content. They use their social media channels to pass alog things they like.
Advertisers should take a cue from this as well - they should stop forcing themselves into places they should not be (obligatory FB brand pages) and rather givng the people the content they want and making it easy to distribute and share with their friends (embed YouTube videos, post to FB, Digg, etc.).
I also like this articulation on how UGC/WOM fits into the larger digital marketing universe:
The present strength of digital marketing lies in its balance between broadcast and word-of-mouth. Broadcast refers to the standard banners, buttons and rich media units that most publishers employ. The word-of-mouth component encompasses all of the social media efforts like sharing and referring friends, endorsing brands and becoming fans of your favorite products. Crowd-sourcing fits directly between the two. Its day is still likely to come, as more marketers finally grasp how to use both aspects -- broadcast and word-of-mouth -- individually and together.
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