One topic that was central to this particular week was media convergence. Media convergence has become a popular buzz word in many of today’s creative industries, but what exactly does it mean? And what benefits or challenges does it bring to this landscape?
First, let’s define what media convergence actually is. For all intents and purposes, we can define media convergence as the merging of mass communication outlets – print, television, radio, the Internet along with portable and interactive technologies through various digital media platforms. There is a lot of out-of-date material circulating about media convergence as it has been an on-going, evolving topic of discussion for years, from the development of television to today’s use of the Internet. Henry Jenkins makes a great point when he says that media convergence is a process, not an endpoint. As media convergence covers such a broad range of media outlets, the definition will continue to change as long as our technology continues to grow and change.
One example of media convergence as we know it today is illustrated through merging of newspaper copy to news apps and websites. The Internet and social media platforms allow journalists to release news in real time – a feat that a hard copy of a newspaper is unable to offer – as well as issue the same non-time sensitive material that they may release in the actual paper.
So now let’s talk about the challenges and opportunities media convergence creates for today’s workplaces in the creative industry.
THE GOOD
Media convergence generates many obvious opportunities for creative industries to circulate content and advertisements. One benefit that we can witness first-hand is that the convergence between traditional and digital sources powers our newspapers to produce much more efficient and up-to-date content as their websites and social media platforms are frequently updated. If information about breaking news becomes available, the stories can be released instantaneously.
Another benefit is that media convergence allows sources to reach a broader audience with the same media message presented across different platforms to fit the needs of each consumer. Information is readily available across multiple platforms in today’s society, so the audience is able to access it through many different ways and is able to pick a platform that best suits his or her needs. With the convergence of media, audiences are fragmenting based on which platform best suits their needs, which ultimately increases the number of audiences available and the number of opportunities to view a message on a platform that each individual prefers. For example, when I take public transit to work in the mornings, I’m usually frantically trying keep up with the hustle and bustle of society and don’t have the capacity to wrestle with reading the morning paper, even though I have time on my commute and would enjoy staying in the know with the latest happenings. But with the development of podcasts, I am now able to plug in my headphones and receive the same content as someone reading the paper – just across a different platform.
Another benefit of media convergence is that it is not so heavy on the pocketbook. Creative industries are discovering more ways to converge their media that play to their advantage in terms of efficacy and cost-effectiveness. As many of us know, any companies in the print industry are finding ways to incorporate the use of the Internet into their content distribution. Media convergence is cheaper than employing multiple employees specializing in only one platform (e.g. having separate employees for TV, separate employees for print, etc.) It’s also extremely efficient and cost-effective to use social media for public outreach – advertising, reporting a quick breaking news update rather than printing a full article in the paper, or simply keeping the public informed on a personal level – and it’s all for free. It doesn’t get more cost effective than free.
THE BAD
So we know that media convergence offers many opportunities to society, but what may be less apparent is that it also poses many challenges too. In today’s society, technology is constantly growing and evolving, which ultimately means that our opportunities are continuously growing too – and at an exceptional rate. And a lot of the time, it can become overwhelming and difficult to keep up with the latest technology and opportunities available.
Media convergence also requires a source to establish credibility and rapport for an audience to deem it reliable. The idea of getting information from different news sites and platforms is very convenient, but its only effective if an audience trusts and appreciates each of the platforms. For example, my hometown newspaper produces a reliable hard copy newspaper, but when they attempted to release an app to coincide with the paper, it was not very successful. The content was out-dated, the format was hard to read, and it experienced many crashes while the app was open. Many people wrote it off immediately as if the app didn’t even exist because of its unreliability.
Ensuring that audiences stay engaged is another challenge of media convergence. Industries often face the challenge of finding ways to make their platforms unique and stand out from their competition. They also have to weigh the pros and cons of how placing their content across multiple platforms affects their revenue. For example, the New York Times provides only a select portion of its content through its social media platforms and website for free, while the more detailed stories and the remainder of the content is available only through a subscription.
THE UGLY
In my honest opinion, there really isn’t an “ugly” side to media convergence – just lots of opportunities with some challenges along the way. The only ugly detail I could manage to scrape up was the negative way that the fast pace of today’s media could affect journalists and reporters. They have to be on alert 24/7 in order to keep up with the latest news and be a front-runner in keeping them public informed across all platforms, which can often be stressful and overwhelming. Multiple deadlines create new time constraints, and if journalists are expected to work continuously, it is a threat to put a strain on their work-life balance.
In conclusion, media convergence is something that creative industries in today’s society should embrace if they want to progress and grow. I believe that the benefits of media convergence heavily outweigh the challenges and that it is an essential step for companies that strive to become better and bigger, which ultimately provides better and more up-to-date services for audiences.
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NATION: COMMUNICATION 