When distributing UGC to clients, news agencies should ensure the associated information sheet contains clear details about the uploader and the steps that have been taken to verify the content. Agencies should also inform clients about the quantity of UGC used through their watermarking statistics so as to increase awareness about UGC use among smaller broadcasters.
Social networks should create a common, transparent standard for metadata that accompanies all content on their platforms. This should include clear and consistent time and date stamps, geo-location, and uploader information.
Social networks should work toward a shared 24-hour news license. Similar to Creative Commons, this would empower users to permit news usage of their content either when signing up for a network or when uploading individual pieces of content.
Social networks should develop an automated messaging system that alerts individual users when their content is embedded onto a news site.
Social networks, with the aid of educational institutions, should strive to educate uploaders about their rights under copyright law, particularly geographical nuances. Newsrooms working in territories where “fair dealing for the purposes of reporting” is used need to ensure this is not being claimed as a way of using user-generated content inappropriately.