INTRODUCTION
Introductory to the Special Forum on Monetization of User-Generated Content — Marx Revisited
Jennifer Proffitt, Hamid Ekbia and Stephen McDowell
The identification of core characteristics of labor and value creation in the information society is complicated, specifically in regard to user-generated content in social media websites and networks of audience labor. The issues related to user-generated content raise a number of definitional questions that are fundamental for theory development. Core elements of this debate include the definitions and significance of user-generated content, labor, value, price, production, commodities, exploitation and class, all of which are challenging to define in the context of information and knowledge activities. Each Perspective paper in this special issue brings something unique to questions about labor in the information society, contributing both to clarification of concepts and to theory-building regarding labor and value creation.