Thursday, August 30, 2012

Digital Media Convergence: Necessity or Desire?


There was once a time when mobile devices were the size of toddlers, advertising was done by word of mouth or printed ads, writing letters was the best way to stay in contact with someone and people could only listen to one album at a time. Nowadays, there are mobile devices that can fit in an average pocket, getting the latest news is as easy as pushing a button, contacting a friend is only a matter of clicking “send” and up to two-thousand songs can be held on one device. Times have changed and now society demands that once tedious tasks (or so we now see them) are done in the blink of an eye. There is a call for tasks to be been done faster and for gadgets to be lighter, smaller and more stylish.  It is not to say that the old methods and products were ineffective in completing tasks; many people were able to function with from day to day using what they had and knew. But as time progresses, society has produce devices and methodologies to enhance our lives and make everyday tasks easier and more convenient. Digital media convergence has changed the way society looks day-to-day activities; it has affected the way people distinguish between wants and needs.


Digital media convergence is the merging of mass communications outlets such as print, television, and radio. The Internet, along with portable and interactive technologies through various digital presentation platforms, allows information to be accessible to people across the world. The phenomenon of digital media convergence, in terms of advertising and new media, has brought major revenue to those who distribute and happiness to those who buy. With the assistance of advertising and new media, “Buyers and sellers find new ways to interact, often bypassing established intermediates in various service industry value chains, including modern media, altering business models and restricting industries in the process (Flew, T 2002:106).” Through the digital media convergence, companies are “bridging the gap” in terms of finding ways to directly meet the wants, desires, and needs of consumers.  This essay will display case studies and research on ways advertising and new media are able to expand into homes across the world and be promoted as necessities to keep up with daily life.       
                             
          
The powers of advertising and the advancement of new media work hand and hand in changing the minds of consumers. New media is advertised in a way that promotes the product as a necessity, rather than a new gadget that the consumer desires. Spurgeon argues that, “consumers actively participate in negotiating the symbolic and use values of goods and services” (Spurgeon, C 2008:24). Indeed, consumers dictate what is hot and what is not through their purchase of such goods and services; technology only progress because the consumer wants something that is more convenient, compact, and has a better appeal than the previous model. However, new media and advertisements play on these desires and turn products into things they feel they need and therefore demand.

Advertisements are geared towards the consumer as a way of exposing them to new products and services. This manipulation appears in various forms within the media such as television, radio, national press and magazines. However, through digital media convergence online access allows advertisements to not only reach the directed audience but an international audience as well. This has resulted in advertising becoming a multi-billion dollar industry, with the most profitable agency network, Dentsu, making over $4.9 billion revenue in 2010 alone (Johnson, G 2010:120). According to the (Johnson, G 2010:121) Dentsu manages to reach a much larger audience through the Internet. There is 30% of the world that has Internet access, which is about 1.5 billion people according to (Cisco Global). With the use of the Internet, there is now another channel from which advertisements can be broadcast. The Internet also allows companies to reach more consumers than they once did, as well as make for money. Spurgeon also states “online advertising expenditures now frequently exceeds outdoors, cinema, magazine advertising expenditure, and rival radio advertising expenditures in many countries” (Spurgeon, C 2008:45). Online advertising is now a global market. Advertising is a competitive market; therefore it must be effective in selling whatever it offers to an audience that is frequently bombarded with an array of advertisements. 

   
According to Merriam-Webster, media is “the storage and transmission channels or tools used to store and deliver information or data”(Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Media such as the radio, newspaper, vinyl records, camera, and even the telephone will always serve their same purpose. However, how they perform their functions and are presented to the consumer is every changing. “Convergence involves both a change in the way media is produced and a change in the way media is consumed” (Jenkins, N 2006:25). Through digital media convergence sources of media have become intertwined. A camera is now included in nearly every mobile device, calls can now be made from televisions, and the radio is now available on the Internet. Now, products not only perform their innate tasks, but they also function as other sources of media.

          So what does digital media convergence do for you? It adds convince and style to your life. Orgad believes that "one way to do this is to seek to connect the new and unknown with the familiar; to promote an understanding of the emergent technology as evolving from familiar, safe and comfort- able technological and social worlds, to accommodate the new technological world by ‘lodging’ it in an old one" (Orgad, S 2009: 211). As a result, digital media convergence is developing products to meet the wants and needs of consumers. Through the progression of new media and advertising, it is now up to the producers to meet those demands and to ensure the connection between the consumer and the product in order to keep the interest of their consumers.



                                                                     Resource List

Unit Readings:  

  • Spurgeon, C. (2008) Advertising and New Media. Oxon: Routledge. pp.24-45.
  • Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press. pp. 1-24.
  • Flew, T. (2002). New Media: An Introduction. Oxford Press p. 106

Recommended Readings:




Additional Research: 

  • Cisco Global. 2011. Internet world Stats. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm. [Accessed 25 August 12]. 
  • Gerry Johnson, 2010. Exploring Strategy Text & Cases. 9th Revised edition Edition. Pearson Education Limited
  • Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. 2012. Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.merriam-webster.com/. [Accessed 25 August 2012].
Electronic Media:

  • Photos taken by Robert Young (8.27.2012) 
  • Symbol designed by Robert Young (1.25.2011)
  • YouTube - Broadcast yourself. 2011. Technology Advancement. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v61XZHleOSI. [Accessed 20 August 12].


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