Media, Culture and Everyday Life - Report Example

Media, Culture and Everyday Life Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code & Name: Date of Submission A. Folk devil for the internet Televisions have for a long time been considered as occupying the central place in the set-up of the modern society. This is more so in the western world where people were regarded as spending substantial amount of their time with media, and more specifically with the television. Against this background, authors like Hallahan (1997) cited critics who determined that the over-reliance on the media has culminated in members of the modern society becoming spectators, as opposed to participants in the events which are happening around them. In this regard, people are content to just sit at the comfort of their houses and let the world come to them through the tube, which is often referred to as the couch potato syndrome. Consequently, people are in a very limited sense endowed with the capacity of gaining first-hand knowledge about their world. Contemporary discourse in the public domain as well as in the diverse fields of academia have turned to the internet with various fork devils being identified and often linked with moral panic in the modern society. Perhaps the most referred to fork devil in this regard is the cybernauts. Siapera (2004) noted that through the provision of search engines which enable access to diverse information, offering variety of computer games and different ‘downloads’ functions, the audience carved in this context is one that is actively involved with the new medium, which is the internet. Consequently, this has discursive impacts, mostly detrimental in shaping the way we think and regulate our relationship to the medium of the internet. This is analyzed in the subsequent section. Firstly, the internet has minimized the necessity to for people to turn for other traditional modes of accessing information like the print media, television and radio. This is based on the fact that they can get regular updates on what is happening globally through mobile updates in internet enabled phones. In this regard, people have become more inclined towards gaining an understanding of the events around them through the internet. This is more profound in the debates in the public domain as opposed to academic discourses. On the other hand, it might seem more commonsensical in valuing these regular updates on events via the internet as it is a fundamental tool of informing individuals and collectives, and thus not mere waste of time and resources. Nonetheless, valuing other genres like soap opera series which are available over the internet has been perceived as mind numbing, diverting and escapism and thus ultimate waste of time. Secondly, the instigation of the internet has caused a stir in academics whereby there has been elevated reliance of this medium by the students, not only for the academic purposes but in other social aspects. This fact is supported by Chou, Condron and Belland (2005) who determined that whereas the academic utility of the internet is primarily aimed at research and learning, the internet has evolved to become an important part of student life. This has culminated in the reporting of internet over-involvement cases among students from time to time, with this trend being observed in diverse campuses. The advent of social networks has been key in enabling the students to interact with individuals both inside and outside the learning institution environs. Extended involvement in this activity has been perceived by recent researches as posing detrimental impacts on the academic life of students, with enormous cases of absence from morning classes being reported in diverse institutions (Chou et. al., 2005). Lastly, the internet has been cited as a major factor influencing the extent of moral decay among children in the contemporary society. This is mostly epitomized by the advent of cyber-porn whereby children are now incapacitated to view explicit materials which can be efficiently downloaded from this medium. This has shaped diverse moral themes which are often the topic of moral panic structured around the popular use of the internet –dysfunctional behaviors and loss of family values. Against this background, the heightened utility of the internet has been perceived to pose diabolical impacts on the cultural orientation among diverse communities, mostly among the closed societies. All these have discursive impacts, mostly negative in shaping the way we think and regulate our relationship to the medium of the internet. Nonetheless, this does not insinuate that this fork devil of cybernauts only poses negative impacts on the society. On the contrary, there are also some positive aspects which are embedded in it. B. Strategies of media convergence Convergence can be perceived to describe industrial, technological and socio-cultural changes in the diverse ways through which the media circulate within our culture. In a generic view, media convergence can be seen as the situation whereby multiple media systems engage in coexistence and where the contents in the media flow fluidly across them. It is thus not a fixed relationship but rather a series of intersections between media systems and thus an ongoing process (Nightingale & Dwyer, 2007). There are some rudimentary media convergence strategies which have been identified by Jenkins (2006) and Nightingale and Dwyer (2007) which are evident in the Masterchef Australia website. Jenkins (2006) noted that initial experiments of interactive television were written off failures in the mid-1990s based on the presumption that people just needed to sit back and watch the television rather than interact with it. Nonetheless, the advent and success of the reality television which is best epitomized by the massive success of the American Idol’s success is obliging the media industry to rethink some of these assumptions. In this regard, interaction in media convergence is key not only for promotional purposes but also in changing model of consumer behavior which in turn shape marketing strategies. In the Masterchef Australia website, they have incorporated an interactive segment via diverse social networks like Twitter and Facebook. This is a key marketing strategy which is divorced from the traditional presumption that the individuals visiting the website are only interested about knowing about different products, but on the contrary, they value the interactive arrangement of the medium. This is chief in both understanding the dynamics in consumer demands as well as heightening the media convergence over diverse market segments, which is generally referred to as ‘affective economics’ (seeking to understand the emotional foundation of the consumers’ decisions as a propelling force behind viewing and purchasing decisions. Another media convergence strategy which is evident in the Masterchef Australia website is the link between advertising and entertainment industries which is geared towards generating ideas intended to elicit emotions and create connection with the consumers. Jenkins (2006) argues that the integration of entertainment and advertising is bound to create memorable moments in the consumers mind and the evocation of this memory which is founded on positive emotions is bound to create a long-term attachment with the product or service being advertised in a medium. This is best epitomized by Coca-Cola who perceives themselves as less of soft-drinks bottlers but rather as more of an entertainment company which is active in shaping as well as sponsoring concerts, sporting events and movies. In this regard, the intensification of feelings is principle in enabling entertainment content and the brand message to penetrate the clutter and become memorable to the consumers. Similarly, Masterchef Australia has uploaded entertainment episodes in its website, for instance, episodes of ‘Sons of Anarchy’ which are bound to create an emotional connection between the company’s brands and this entertainment series once the consumer has watched it online. In addition, the company has sponsored trips to Europe (Win a taste to Europe Tour) as well as daily amounts of money to be won among other competitions on the website. These are creative strategies in ensuring continued consumer loyalty as well as expanding the consumers share in the market, both in the short and long-term. Enhancement is yet another strategy of media convergence that Masterchef Australia has utilized in its website. This includes reservations for burgeoning array of innovations and interaction, for instance, voting and polling for the best biscuit and internet subscription. In this regard, the consumers can sign up email accounts which have accrued benefits as well as vote for their best products. This is chief in assessing the consumer base as well as gaining an insight into the product preferences of the consumers. In addition, the consumers can get regular updates about recent and forthcoming events as well as competitions where they can win diverse prizes. This is also prudent in getting other media channels overboard through the polling and voting process, an enhancement trend which is best epitomized by the globally franchised ‘Pop Idol’ formats and ‘Big Brother’ (Nightingale & Dwyer, 2007). From the above discourse, it is evident that different strategies in media convergence are being utilized in the contemporary world and marks a major paradigm shift from the traditional presumptions of marketing and promotion. This is profound in Masterchef Australia as evident in their website and as explored in the preceding sections. References Chou, C., Condron, L., & Belland, J., (2005). A Review of the Research on Internet Addiction. Educational Psychology Review, 17 (4), 363-388. Hallahan, K (1997). The Consequences of Mass Communication: Cultural and Critical Perspectives on Mass Media and Society. New York: McGraw-Hill. Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press. Nightingale, V & Dwyer, T., (2007). New Media Worlds: Challenges for Convergence. Melbourne, Oxford University Press. Siapera, E., (2004). From Couch Potatoes to Cybernauts? The Expanding Notion of the Audience on TV Channels’ Websites. New Media & Society, 6(2), 155-172. Read More