There is no shortage of critics of the mass-produced generic content churned out by Demand Media Inc.

Now, some experts are questioning whether the complainers are driven by anything more than a grudge – given how Wall Street shrugged off those critics.

Investors enthusiastically welcomed the Santa Monica media company’s stock market debut last Wednesday. Demand expected to offer 7.9 million shares at a price between $14 and $16, but the company upped the offering to 8.9 million shares at $17 amid brisk demand; the price surged as high as $22.65 in active trading. Shares closed Jan. 27 at $21.85.

In the end, the four-and-a-half-year-old company raised $151 million, about $25 million more than initially expected. (The company itself expects to net $66.5 million after fees and expenses, since many shares were sold by insiders who are cashing out.)

Led by Chief Executive Richard Rosenblatt, Demand uses thousands of cheap freelancers to produce articles and videos on a staggeringly wide range of topics – from how to roast a chicken to how to fix a flat tire – while a proprietary algorithm tailors the content to appear high on Google searches.

Sometimes derided as a “content farm,” the company generates high-volume web traffic by placing that content on more than a half-dozen popular sites such as eHow.com. The traffic in turn drives advertising revenue.

Major traditional media outlets, such as Forbes and CNBC, published scathing critiques of Demand’s business, focusing on its accounting methods, lack of profitability and tenuous relationship with Google. Reuters even drew comparisons to Wall Street’s missteps during the dot.com bubble, saying investors are overlooking the fact that “Demand is festooned with red flags.”

However, Linda Killian, portfolio manager for IPO tracking firm Renaissance Capital’s Global IPO mutual fund, noted that Demand’s business model is seen as a threat to traditional journalism, which may be the root of much of the criticism.

“You have to take that criticism with a little bit of skepticism because of the source,” Killian said. “The journalism community is wired not to like the business model.”

The company declined to comment, but stated in its prospectus that it has “had a net loss in every year since inception,” and had a deficit of $53 million as of Sept. 30.

Killian said it is not atypical for young tech companies to have high costs as they invest in their processes. Still, she admits there are uncertainties.

Google, which accounts for about one-third of Demand’s total revenue, has said it will crack down on content farms that exploit its search process, though Google did not specify which companies would be at risk.

“Every once and a while a company comes along like Demand Media that really excites people because they’re commercially exploiting the Internet as it evolves,” she said. “Whether it’s a sustainable model, time’s going to tell.”