The underlying theory of Web 2.0 is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Your video of your college roommate lighting his farts on fire would have basically zero value if you put it on your own personal web page (unless you happen to be Perez Hilton). Post it to Facebook, and suddenly you're an Internet celebrity, because millions of users are already coming to Facebook every day to see content just like yours, and because Facebook's architects made it perfect for viral distribution of information.
If you're interested in making money off of your content, there are sites out there that will help you try, from Shutterstock to Google Knol. I've tried many of them, and the pennies that I earn don't come close to covering the cost of my network connection, much less my computer. If you're going to call Facebook contributors sharecroppers, that's fine, but they are sharecroppers who spend all of their time arranging the seeds into a posterized mural of their pet cat, not planting them in the field and toiling to harvest the crops.
If you're interested in making money off of your content, there are sites out there that will help you try, from Shutterstock to Google Knol. I've tried many of them, and the pennies that I earn don't come close to covering the cost of my network connection, much less my computer. If you're going to call Facebook contributors sharecroppers, that's fine, but they are sharecroppers who spend all of their time arranging the seeds into a posterized mural of their pet cat, not planting them in the field and toiling to harvest the crops.