Analyse Shirkys Theory of Media Development and Audience Transformation

The importance of technology today is that it is has a big impact in the media and in everyone’s day to day life’s.  Media is social and worldwide and therefore people can take it for granted. Every medium is right next door to every other medium, meaning that everything updated or posted online is just a small part of everything else that is online worldwide and it is all part of a big institution.

Near enough everyone in the world has access to a smartphone or computer and therefore audiences can now be producers and not just consumers. For example, from a click of a button a phone can also become a radio or a web page can be opened.

The transformation of audiences today is that they have become or have the chance to be citizen reporters, where the audience becomes a ‘reporter’ and can report events as and when they are happening. For example the earthquake in China was reported on Twitter by a citizen before the BBC had the chance to post anything online. The government learnt about the earthquake and heard and saw exactly what was happening through videos and pictures which were posted online by a citizen, who was in the middle of the event. Within a day, donation sites were set up and people were instantly donating money. This is a major impact which shows how Michael Wesch’s 2.0 theory has changed the way in which we communicate. However, sometimes when a major event happens, there can be so many people posting online that it is produced at a speed where there is no way to filter it. This could lead to services such as Twitter being shut down due to an overload of information.

Clay Shirky stated that there are four main periods which changed media. The first was print. The second is two way communications which firstly was introduced as text and secondly as voice. The third was recorded media which started as photos, then sound and then music. The fourth was radio and TV.

Current media practices mean that audiences can talk back online and communicate with others in a way that we wasn’t able to do so before. Ideas are not just posted on a social network site, but comments and conversations can take place in a way where anyone can talk to anyone. Opinions are put forward and people are no longer disconnected. Networks have grown to an extent in which they are massive and they just continue to grow.

Barack Obama had a site which was named the Organization for America. This was one of the fastest growing groups and went on to become the largest. There was many opinions posted and put across from the viewing audience and many disagreed with his opinion but they went on to support him as he didn’t just shut them off. He understood them and took note of their ideas and opinions and the audience seemed to go on to also support him and his views.