Power of Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Power of Media - Essay Example Contrary to public perception, â€Å"convergence culture† is not limited to only participating in online voting or phoning in your votes for the latest talent competition on television. Although it is true that the activity is all-inclusive, it does not signify a convergence of any cultural sort. Rather, a mass protest rally in front of an embassy, declaring sentiments against a popular problem or plan of action could be more considered as an example of â€Å"convergence culture†. â€Å"Convergence culture† is the modern way by which our society is being shaped by a new generation of movers and thinkers. While we used to be a culture defined by what the powers that be in mass media such as radio and television say we should be, now we find that people have the actual ability to buck at such dictates already. Instead, people are dictating who they are and what they will be with the help of modern digital communication gadgets. Cellular phones now allow for mass sh aring of information between people faster than a television or news broadcast. Everything these days happens in real time, with various people sharing their experiences across the world by simply a point, click, and send on their phones, laptops, and other portable media devices. In such instances, this collective sharing of events, although depicting various points of view, all dictate the definition of what â€Å"convergence culture† is all about. Basically, â€Å"convergence culture† is not bound by the same restrictions that normal media practitioners must adhere to. Fan fiction writing and blogging are some examples of a method by which people continue to promote ideas and items that they have come to know and love but without the manipulative hand of the owners of the product. An act which, although frowned upon by most media big wigs, has proven to be the new way through which promotional activities can actually gain a longer life span that could oftentimes, su rpass the lifetime of the product or movie being promoted as well. It is because of this emerging power of the new digital media technology that the old guards, the newspaper and book publishers, the movie producers, and they're like, are all in a quandary as to how to position themselves in this new era of promotional activity and news sharing. You see, as Jenkins claimed in his paper, When people take media into their own hands, the results can be wonderfully creative; they can also be bad news for all involved. (par. 39). We have seen the ways through which the regular news sources have become all but obsolete in our modern world. The troubles in the Middle East that escalated in momentum and action this year alone showed that Twitter and Facebook are far more effective information dissemination tools when it comes to news reporting.