CGM stands for consumer-generated media. No longer due publishers and media institutions hold a monopoly on the news. And now the CEO of one of the most powerful interactive advertising agencies asks the question…should we be sponsors as well as advertisers?

ClickZ: The CGM Revolution by Mark Kingdon

Current [TV] is intriguing because it aggregates the increasingly hard-to-find youth market into a community. Users are producers, directors, writers, editors, voiceover talent, actors, and programming executives who green-light "good stuff for TV." The Web site becomes a platform, a portal, and a literal studio for the truth.

Traditional news isn’t going away anytime soon. But CGM is no longer marginalized to the Web’s outer reaches. No matter what consumer-facing industry you’re in, this trend will affect you — if it hasn’t already. For Internet marketers, it means if you have a brand with a powerful connection to users, it might be time to think about a sponsored community.