New and Digital Media!

“Digital media have, in many ways, changed how we consume media products” Who do you think benefits the most- audiences or producers?

The revolution of new and digital media has changed the way society has formed in the 21st century era. The changing face of new technology has allowed new and digital media to reach its highest revolution with a great success of online community on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter growing daily with millions joining social networking sites every second. Due to the impact of new and digital media there had been a decline in other media platform such as the print industry including magazine, newspapers,articles and books.

The power of new and digital media has given audiences and producers many ways of consuming and producing news such as through citizen journalism and crowd sourcing which provides a pluralistic model for audiences as the audience play an active role in providing information for producers. This signifies the fact that audiences are no longer passive consumers but also active producers of their own media products.

Through this people have seeing a great rise in UGC (user generated content) which allows audiences to contribute in making media text as UGC has replaced old forms of media such as newspapers and letters even though those forms are still around, they don't seem to be as appealing to today's audience then they did 10 years ago.For example through the use smart phones and various other devices audiences are able to make and showcase their own news report about event such as the G20 protest, when an officer, from the Metropolitan Police’s Territorial Support Group (TSG), collapsed at his home after realizing he was the person captured on film allegedly pushing newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson to the ground. Mr Tomlinson, 47, is thought to have died of a heart attack. This is clear proof that new applications such as Facebook and Twitter make it increasingly possible for individual journalists to publish outside the constraints of their newspapers and website and develop direct relationships with communities of readers as social networking sites have given audience the power to publish,update and create news texts for millions of readers to see without the need to ask produces or journalists to do as as the citizen journalism's has increased. Other examples consist of the earthquake in Japan, where is shows how people have captured the moment when disaster struck Japan killing thousands. Audiences therefore are able to comment,arguer for and against any media text published and captured by ordinary people on their smart phones such as the iPhone.

It is arguable to say whether audience or produces are benefit the most from consuming media product through the use of new and digital media. Some people may say that social networking sites has given audience the power of freedom to speak out,protest for and against things they may or may not believe in, as the use of social networking sites have allowed audiences to promote and express their feelings through application such as uploading pictures, videos, fan pages and applications that target a wide age range.

All though the online community has given the audience of freedom of speech,Social networking sites have isolated us from ‘real human interaction in a cyber-reality that is a poor imitation of the real world. This fact was identified by Sherry Turkle’s article in the Guardian. It also shows how people of to days generation spend less times interacting in person as statistics shows that 57% of people talk more online than the traditional way of communicating e.g face to face. This shows that people have become more dependent on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to communicate with friends and family, the break down of society can linked to the significant use age of the Internet and social networking sites. Audiences spend more than 5 hours interacting online everyday which can suggest how ‘technology is threatening to dominate our lives and make us less human’. Also according to Sherry Turkle " the future of books are blurred" suggesting that audiences are no loner interested in readying like they used to 10-15 years ago, especial the young audiences of today who read and consume news and gossip through the use of social networking rather then reliable sources such as BBC news.

As well as the positive impact of new and digital media, there are many negatives aspects surrounding social networking site such as privacy concerts,identity fraud,child pornography ect.
In addition, producers can benefit from advertising on websites as well as social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, where adverts are tailored to the audiences' interests. All adverts are created to suit the users interest in order to appeal the them. Producers are able to promote produces by advertising it on social networking such as Facebook and Twitter in exchange to make profit for their own company and institution. However overall i think audiences benefit from the use of new and digital media more then the producers are they gain more UGC and convergence through new applications and technological devices.