As the digital platform becomes further embedded into the daily rigors of American society, online mass media entities have integrated a wide array of interactive tools aimed at enabling and encouraging consumer-based content creation. However, little empirical information describing content creation environments, patterns, and potentialities exist. Thus, this study had three primary goals. First, this work examined the dissemination of content creation tools through the utilization of a content analysis. Second, this work investigated user motivations for creating content on 16 college sports-themed blogs. Third, Internet self-efficacy was examined within the context of user-based content generation. Results indicated that content creation tools have been widely integrated into the online landscape and, further, that individuals creating content are actively engaged readers who achieve gratifications through content creation. As this study was exploratory in nature, it concludes by making a number of theoretical and methodological suggestions for future research.
