Video killed the radio star

Is that song stuck in your head now? If so, I apologize. But what The Buggles talked about in their 1980 hit single is still true today, though I think now it would go more like “The Internet killed the TV and Radio star.”

Let’s talk about media convergence. Whether you’ve known it or not, you benefit from media convergence every day.  (It’s what actually killed the Radio star.) We are in the midst of the latest information revolution that so often comes with media convergence; when you turn on the morning news, get a Twitter notification from the BBC, or get an emailed newsletter from favorite TV chef, you are an active participant in the digital revolution. To me, the term “media convergence” conjures a rather amusing mental image of TVs, radios, computers, and cell phones colliding in a kind of media explosion fireball. Or maybe just a big martini shaker full of information ready for consumers to digest. 

http://mas110sem22012-lab08.blogspot.com/2012/08/digital-media-convergence-in-new-media.html

Media convergence has been happening in one form or another since the earliest civilizations.  Media convergence, in layman terms, is basically all the ways we use technology in our daily lives. In today’s modern era, it’s the combination of traditional media and the new technologies that are slowly (or not so slowly) usurping them. Like I said before, it’s been happening quite literally forever. When Gutenberg brought out the printing press, it ignited a firestorm. For the first time, anyone could have access to printed information. It took away control from the ruling clerical class and allowed the average person access to once highly guarded information. It literally changed the world. Then came railroads, followed closely by the telegraph and telephony. Now we are in the midst of yet another revolution, with one major change. Rather than users having to come to the new technology, the users this time around are dictating and running the show for themselves (Net Effects.) Fully wireless access has meant that content creators now must produce what the user wants, when they want it, and how they want it. The need for a seamless experience is compulsory, a non-negotiable.  But how did we get here and what does the future look like for communicators?

Many reports exist that detail how we get here. I’ve given a brief description of that above. But what does it all mean for journalists and professional communicators going forward? That is the big question, one which still doesn’t have an exact answer. In Tom Wheeler’s “Net Effects” book, he details how he thinks we got here and what we have to do going forward in order to maintain and preserve this new technology for future generations. He makes a great point when he says that “the…dislocation…and uncertainty that dog us today repeat similar experiences” of people who lived through the first three great changes in technology and networks (Net Effects.) It’s ok to be feel a bit uneasy about all of these changes. Change is among one of the hardest human experiences we go through, in my opinion. But that uneasiness doesn’t have to lead to setbacks. Too often you see companies failing to change with the times, laboring under the false assumption that the systems that have worked “just fine” for years will outlast anything new that comes along. I’m sure that’s what everyone said about the telephone too when it was first invented and now that technology has completely transformed and is now an invaluable part of modern life.  Thank you, Apple.

What we have got to realize is that media convergence is our friend, not our enemy. While it may seem daunting to have to incorporate so many different mediums into our communications plans, it’s worth it. The only way to survive this new revolution is dive head first into the fray, to fully embrace digitization from now on. One of the best examples of this that I know of is the advent of the Internet and the Web itself.  While we all use the Internet, we don’t all use the Web every day. With the advent of apps for everything (literally everything – check out the app store if you haven’t in a while, it’s a hoot) we are utilizing the actual Web less and less. (For a great article about how these semi-closed platforms have taken over check out Chris Anderson and Michael Wolff’s article in WIRED titled “The Web is Dead. Long Live the Internet.”)  While I can understand how these semi-closed platforms do create some cause for concern, I don’t think they are necessarily a bad thing. I think of them as the next innovation, even the next step in this revolution. They are the evidence left behind of the people who chose to embrace the new era of technological change, rather than fighting or ignoring it.  They chose to create tools that utilize the Internet in a way that had never been thought of before.  These new tools are allowing people to not only communicate, but drive conversations on a scale never before seen. On a journalistic level, think about how these apps have changed how journalists collect information for stories, write their stories, and even what they deem worthy of being written about. (Think about how all the major networks now report on the White House – they have to check Twitter first to see what they’ll be covering that day!)  These third-party applications are allowing us to reach consumers, audiences, users wherever they are, whenever they are.

Think about that for a second in relation to what we all do on a daily basis.  We can execute crisis communications plans more effectively now than ever before. With a tweet or Facebook post, we can communicate with our audiences within seconds of an event occurring, getting the important information to them as soon as possible. No longer do we have to wait for somebody to go to our websites and read our press releases to get the most up to date information. We can communicate with people so much faster than before and this I think is the biggest takeaway. We have the power now to get our messages out there faster, in an effective way, in front of larger crowds of people. This isn’t going to change and it certainly isn’t going to slow down any time soon. And it’s all thanks to media convergence. Without this apex of technology and network change occurring we wouldn’t have the opportunities we do now to communicate quickly and effectively with those that need our particular communications.

What do you guys think about media convergence? I would love to hear others thoughts on this...it's such an interesting topic and certainly one that isn't going away any time soon. Until next week guys!