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Is mass media becoming social media? This question is becoming more prominent in today’s technological era. Our culture is constantly changing; therefore, the media is constantly changing in relation to our culture (Jenkins). Traditional mass media is defined as one-dimensional. The newer social media is defined as two-dimensional, or multi-dimensional. The concept of “Convergence Culture” claims that “old” and “new” media are on a collision course and becoming one in today’s society (Wasson). All types of media are considered to be forms of mass communication. The term “mass media” is always changing and being redefined by society and technology. In order for mass communication to be established, an audience is needed (Napoli). This connection of a “mass” to an audience introduces the social elements of the mass media. Today’s technological era has molded traditional mass media to take on social aspects through the three platforms of Internet, news industry, and magazines. Even though these platforms are deviated from mass media, they all have new social aspects that question whether mass media is becoming social media (Luders).
Internet has become one of most widespread tools used in every day life through many different kinds of applications. Throughout the world, there are 1.8 billion people that use the Internet on a daily basis (World Internet Usage Statistics News and World Population Stats). The Internet is a form of mass media, but it is considered to be a form a social media. Can the Internet only be one of the two? Or, are the two combining in to one? The Internet is considered to be a mass media, because it is available worldwide and is constantly updated. However, it is also considered to a social media, because of the establishment of social networking sites, E-mail, blogs, chatrooms, and instant messaging. Interactivity is the common characteristic among these Internet programs. These applications break the line of mass media’s one-dimensional aspect and cross over to the two-dimensional aspect of the Internet. This two-dimensional or multi-dimensional communication among a mass of people accounts for the biggest argument for the Internet being a social media. As more users join the Internet, the interactivity of the Internet increases. This is the definition of social media (Ruiz). If the Internet is both mass media and social media, then are mass media and social media the same thing?
The news industry has an important place in the history of the world. It is still used in today’s society in a variety of forms. From the word of mouth to the distribution of pamphlets and flyers in the 1800s, to the publishing of local and worldwide newspapers, the new industry has a long history of being a mass media. There are three kinds of news: printed, broadcasted, and electronic. The news industry is still considered a mass media because it can be a one-way communication platform for the world. News is also considered a mass media because it is mass produced and easily available to a mass of people. With today’s advanced technologies, the news industry has evolved into a major social media. In the forms of print, broadcast, and electronic, news has become an interactive communication. Due to the rise of the Internet, news companies have successfully merged from print to electronic news.
The news industry is in a constant state of changing to fit the current society’s needs and wants. The news industry is turning to the more interactive kind of communication by creating websites. According to the Newspaper Audience Database, the number of unique visitors to web news increased twenty-one percent from January 2005 to December 2005. Internet websites allow the capability of users to comment on stories, send letters to the editors, submit their own news, publish forums and discussions, and share the stories through social networking sites, E-mail, or blogs. In each of these cases, the interactivity increases between the news companies and the viewers. Tanjev Schultz conducted a study with New York Times journalists and the online users of the news website. The study was an in-depth look at how news is discussed through commenting, blogging, and forums (Schultz). Another capability of the Internet aspect of news is the ability to customize homepages to show live news feed. Internet users can be considered “the boss” of their news sources. Marika Luders, a research scientist of technology, commented, “The personalization of news sources is the news renovation to the media.” This extreme interactivity between the news and the people highlights the social aspect of the news industry. If the news industry is both mass media and social media, then are mass media and social media the same thing?
Magazines are published periodicals pertaining to a certain subject or theme that are distributed to a certain audience. According to Philip Napoli’s definition of a “mass communication,” an audience is needed in order to make news a “mass”. This definition directly applies to the magazine’s purpose in today’s society. There are magazines published for every kind of audience: fashion, sports, health, world news, nature, or gossip. Magazines are considered to be a mass media because of the one-way communication through its publishing, its distribution to wide audiences, and its easy availability to readers. Since the beginning of media convergence, the interactivity of magazines with the readers has grown in to a much more social relationship. Magazines are considered to be social media through the interactive communication, polls, quizzes, user submitted stories and pictures, letters to the editor, and “how-to” advice articles. With the addition of a paralleled website of the magazine that provides updated stories and new activities for the readers, an even deeper social aspect is promoted by the magazine companies. If magazines are both mass media and social media, then are mass media and social media the same thing?
In the United States, there is a constantly changing relationship between the media and the culture of the people. Henry Jenkins, who is a media analyst, views the entire culture as living in a public sphere, which is a place for free network control and unlimited resources in the media. He considers the user as the controller and “the boss” of the free network control and unlimited resources. Trends are showing a declining popularity in mass media, and an increasing support for the more social and interactive media (Nilson). With the correspondence of the University of Southern California, Ketchum Global Media Network and Global Research Network performed a study conducted from 2006 to 2008 that calculated online users’ consumer usage of online media. The use of the social aspects of the Internet increased in this time, but the traditional mass media aspects decreased. The use of search engines and E-mail newsletters both declined 2% from 2006 to 2008. Cable TV news sites decreased from 38% to 31% in two years. Social Networking Sites’ usage increased from 17% to 26%, and the use of blogs increased from 13% to 24%. The overall result from this study was the popularity of mass media applications of the Internet decreased, while the popularity of social media applications of the Internet increased (Smith). The new social aspects of mass media are being integrated into our society through a variety of applications.
With the technological advances of our current era, mass media has taken on social aspects. The three platforms, Internet, news industry, and magazines, have specifically evolved into more interactive and social businesses that attract a wider audience. Is mass media becoming social media? Tom Nilson, a blogger for the Relationship Economy website, believes this is a “cage fight” between the two kinds of media that will continue to have many rounds in the future. The fight may never be settled, and a winner may never be declared (Nilson). Mass media’s purpose is to reach mass audiences, while the purpose of social media is to create interactivity with the users. These two medias are converging to create a more sociable communication across the world. Mass media has taken on social aspects, which will continue to change and fit to our culture’s needs throughout the future.
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Works Cited
Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New
York: New York UP, 2006.
Luders, Marika. "Conceptualizing Personal Media." New Media & Society, 10.5 (2008): 683- 702.
Napoli, Philip M. "Revisiting 'Mass Communication' and the 'Work' of the Audience in the New Media Environment." Media, Culture & Society, 32.3 (2010): 505.
Nilson, Tom. "Mass Media vs. Social Media: 'The Cage Match'" A Relationship Economy....The intersection of technology and Human Relations. Web Blog Post. July 2009. 19 July 2010
"Readers flock to online newspaper sites - CyberJournalist.net - Online News Association - Research and Studies." CyberJournalist.net. 25 July 2010
Ruiz, Victor R. “Social Media vs. Mass Media.” Web Blog post. Feb 2010. 19 July 2010
Smith, Steve. "Analysis: Mass Media, Magazine Influence Continue Declines :: MinOnline." MinOnline :: Media, Publishing and Magazine News, Media Jobs & Publishing Jobs, Media Industry Events. 24 July 2010
Schultz, Tanjev. "Mass Media and the Concept of Interactivity: An Exploratory Study of Online Forums and Reader Email." Media, Culture & Society, 22.2 (2000): 205.
Wasson, Haidee. “Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide/Beyond the Multiplex; Cinema, New Technologies, and the Home.” Film Quarterly, 62.4 (2009): 84-85.
"World Internet Usage Statistics News and World Population Stats." Internet Usage World Stats - Internet and Population Statistics. 24 July 2010
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