Concerns about the impact of television violence on viewers are almost as old as the medium itself. Violence has become the acceptable way we solve problems. Entertainment violence is a slippery slope. With repeated exposure, even the most gruesome depictions of violence eventually seem tame to us. In time, viewers become desensitized so the entertainment industry has to continue to push the envelope in order to elicit the same reaction from their audience. Kind of like a drug addict having to increase the amount of drugs they consume to continue getting the same high as their original dose.

Hollywood continues to produce increasingly graphic and gory entertainment products, all while denying any culpability for the violent behaviors their products may inspire. The same can be said of the news media — protected by the First Amendment and the belief that the American public has “the right to know.” Showing graphic news coverage of violent crimes or war coverage will continue and the public will continue to become complacent about such imagery.

So, what is to be done? Does Ed Martin’s revelation that he is shocked by the content of Fox’s “24″ script really accomplish anything? No, in fact, he is but one of many viewers who find violence on television upsetting and ever-increasing. Writing blogs or editorials won’t effect change. Nor will pressing our public officials to enact legislation to mandate appropriate viewer content. Public officials should not act in loco parentis when parents have the power to make media decisions for themselves and their families. Determining what type of media they consume is a quintessential parental responsibility. We are all responsible for our own viewing choices and if enough consumers opt to do something drastic or earth-shattering like, i.e., change the channel, that action just may influence the script writers and news anchors to filter the content of the shows.

These sites all put the viewer into the content. More importantly, they create an implicit call to action for the people to whom you send it: if they want to be in the content too, they need to come to the site.

So what’s the metric? We can track the number of “makes” — the number of versions of these videos that were created. We can (with more difficulty) track the number of times the versions are uploaded/viewed on video sharing sites. We can track the source when people come to the site to create a video… including if they clicked through from a video their friends sent them. But do any of these matter? If the goal of the campaign is “buy from the Gap” or “get a Sony Ericsson phone” or “see the movie,” does it matter?

Maybe… but it depends on how you’re monetizing the audience.