Change And The Information Age

Q2 that I chose ~ Conventional wisdom assumes that media audiences are generally passive. What is the evidence that members of the media audience are, in fact, quite active?

The Changing Media Consumer

Conventional wisdom was correct in its day – a viewing audience may not have had a voice – however, they were indeed listening. Advertising told that story. So, given the opportunity to share in the headlines, to grab the limelight, to pop up onto the podium…what human wouldn’t spring at the chance to be heard? No matter how little they may have to say!

A residue of voices now smear across millions of ‘My Space’ pages. Billions of blogs have grayed the line between professional, journalistic and armchair observer – who happen to have a knack for entertainingly writing what they happen to see or think. And how many faces flood the U-Tube server hourly? We’re drowning in insecurity. The need for attention, to shock the nation, to win the ‘Outrageous’ competition, this is a force to be recognized and somehow dealt with. Though that’s not why I speak today.

The media audience has become not the audience of the past, it is quite active today and the evidence is in the above examples. Added to those are the gabby chat-rooms and the endless e-mails. “The longer you sit on them, the higher they pop.” Dauntingly we have a lot to say, and the platform is the whole planet.

We, the evolutionary children of mass-communication, like a restless youth, would grow weary of non-participation, suspicious of limited content, and anxious to play a bigger role. These irritants were bound to grow as an audience evolved. As technology developed, we asked more out of our youth, out of ourselves, and more from our entertainment. This kind of ‘reaching’ will cause restlessness to passive involvement.

Eventually.

That mark has been met. Applied science is the proverbial serpent in the garden. From the Telegraph to T-ivo, we feed the curious spirit. And now, it has come into its own, as the fated “Information Age.” So, what’s the media doing about that? It does what it has always done, try to control it, own it, and direct it. It conducts studies. Whole institutions have evolved from thoughtful examination on the posture of the media audience. Scholars have made their life’s work out of surveys, research, polls, even incubators of controlled environments. How fascinating it is to study how we tick, and what floats our boats.

Media is a wonder wheel, a voluptuous vehicle, which is transporting human kind as a species through the stretch of time.

If the item creates pleasure – well then by all means, and quickly, patent it, bottle it, and market it. If the monkey brain decides it cannot live without it – whatever ‘it’ is at that time, it will be acquired. New Item: ‘E-bay!’ another example of your average consumer getting a charge out of interactivity.

The evidence is all around, depending on your ‘POV’ (point of view.) Our special needs and interests are about as different as our opinions. Whether personal or social, passive or interactive, the media or the market, the audience or the anchors, the viewer or the viewed, they are all symbiotic in their very nature. If we listen we can learn. If we learn we can grow. If we’ve grown, then it’s been a good day.