Technology and Digital Media: An Ever Shifting Environment

     Technology has influenced how just about everything in our society operates, especially since humans harnessed the power of electricity.  Society has always expected information, because people have always needed to communicate.  The biggest transition is that the audience has gradually gained more power while consuming information on a digital platform.  To be a little more precise, the people using social media can dictate exactly what media they want to take in rather than simply accepting what the media presents.  One paragraph found in the article, Social Media as Public Expectation: The New Public Utility, really sums up the shift that has gradually come across the internet.  The author states, “social networking and social media sites are not simply used to frivolously pass time but have become a backbone, a crucial aspect, of how we conduct our social, political, and professional business in the global world. It is this critical nature of social media over the Internet that is causing users to become vocal” (Thompson, 2010).  So even though it is considered social media, it has truly become an integrated part of how we live and operate as a society. 

     The Social Trends Institute documented a meeting in 2013 called What Society Needs from Media in the Age of Digital Communication, and it brought several communications professionals and analysts together to discuss this topic.  “Certain elements of the transformation of the media are unambiguous: There is increasing importance of audio-visual media, accompanied by decreasing use and prominence of text-based media (newspapers, magazines, and books); there is a proliferation of market-funded, highly commercialized content that is often influenced by global rather than domestic concerns; digitalization has and is producing new platforms for content distribution; and the amount of news, information, and entertainment available to the public has never been higher. All of these developments alter the economic basis of legacy media and the content we receive” (Social Trends Institute, 2013).  There are a lot of clear cut changes that we can all see on a day to day basis, but some changes are a little tougher to keep track of.  Some of these changes that people are less aware of can have dramatic effects, even on an international level.  “The changing media environment is producing both beneficial and deleterious effects to content provision. The meeting explored how the changes affect content of both commercial and non-commercial content providers, how it alters production of certain genres of content (news, information, debate, entertainment, drama, comedy, etc.), what it does to the range of topics addressed in media content, how it creates tensions between provision of domestic and international content, and how it alters perceptions of the world, relationships among people, relationships with society and institutions, and social norms and culture” (Social Trends Institute, 2013).

    A very informative video found on YouTube explains a few of these major changes.  Digital communication has literally influenced business closures, political agendas, and much more as described in this clip from Take Ten Productions.

References

Productions, T. T. (Director). (2013). How Social Networks Have Changed The World! [Motion Picture].

Social Trends Institute. (2013, October 5). What Society Needs from Media in the Age of Digital Communication. Retrieved from Social Trends Institute: http://www.socialtrendsinstitute.org/experts/experts-meetings/civil-society/what-society-needs-from-media-in-the-age-of-digital-communication

Thompson, A. (2010, June 30). Social Media as Public Expectation: The New Public Utility. Retrieved from New York Public Library Website: http://www.nypl.org/blog/2010/06/30/social-media-public-expectation