Joanna’s comment in response to Annelise’s Blog “Power to the Audience”.

The following comment was made on a post in Annelise’s Blog.

I really enjoyed your post. People are truly starting to have power in media today. As the line between consumers and produsers diminishes, this gives room for more freedom and expression (Bruns, 2007). Rather than just being passive listeners, consumers are becoming active participants and content creators (Bruns, 2007). They are able to choose what media they watch and when they watch it.

“The selection and quantity of new tools and technologies available have enabled consumers to engage and express their creativity with a lot more ease”. I definitely agree with this statement. Before Web 2.0 consumers simply did not have the resources to produce and share their creations. However, with applications such as Youtube, Flickr, Jumpcut consumers can simply log into a site, use its software and share away.

“World Wide Web has become a ‘powerful distribution channel’”. This is absoultley true. As previously mentioned, consumers have the resources to create and distribute their own content. Brands can utilize sites such as blogs, forums and social networking sites to promote products. While, record companies can sell their products through online stores such as Itunes. Overall, anyone who has content to distribute has the opportunity in the World Wide Web due to its incredible freedom and flexibility.

I liked how you mentioned Big Brother and Idol as examples social power. I would like to add that these two programs are multi-platform events, which provide programming through multiple media (Roscoe, 2004). They resemble the changed patterns of media consumption in society today. Consumers not only become viewers of these programs but rather active participants. These types of programs work hard in creating relationships with their viewers and provide exclusive content for their fans. They give consumers power, by allowing them to vote for their favorites, download wallpapers/ringtones, watch behind the scenes episodes and read up on the latest news through official sites (Roscoe, 2004).

In conclusion the audience really does have the power in society today. They have become active participants in the new media environment influencing content.

References

Bruns, A. 2007. Produsage: Towards a Broader Framework for User-Led Content Creation." http://produsage.org/files/Produsage%20(Creativity%20and%20Cognition%202007).pdf) (accessed May 7, 2008).

Roscoe, J. 2004. 'Multi-Platform Event Television: Reconceptualizing our Relationship with Television'. The Communication Review, 7 (4): 363-369.