This post covers some talking points regarding online media that is important from a contextual perspective. Use this information in the 'context' section of your introduction to help structure an excellent response!
Please note this information comes from two separate classes, so there is some repetition/revision going on here!
Introduction to online media
What is online media?
- Media that’s online!
- It’s so broad that it’s difficult to define! Online media completely shapes the lives of many people
- It can involve social media, but this is just one small part of it!
- A combination of different forms of media… but what is it that makes this possible?
- Online media is often defined by a community, or a linked set of media and ideas
- Online media is made possible through the internet
- But what is the internet?
- The world wide web functions as a digital infrastructure
- The internet is a series of interconnected networks and computers that host and exchange information around the world
- Online media refers to media that uses the internet, or rather a series of networked computers sharing media and ideas across an enormous network
- Computers can refer to mobile phones, laptops, digital hardware, smartwatches, satnavs, gaming consoles, tablets, music players…
- However, the functionality of many of these products has now been replaced through mobile phones
- This simplification of online access is referred to as digital convergence
- Convergence refers to the merging of two previously separate industries
- A classic example of convergence is music videos, which combine TV and music
- However, we now live in a completely convergent media dominated world
- Examples include TV (now digital streaming services!), the music industry (now very much online), videogames (now generally moved online), news and newspaper (now online…), reading (ebooks, kindle etc), food shopping and retail in general, socialising
- In short, all media is now online media, and differentiating between different forms of media is now outdated and old fashioned
- A series of platforms?
- Media made accessible through the internet
- Content accessed through a range of different devices
- Can take many different forms
- Online media can be accessed through smartphones, computers, laptops, smart TVs, video game consoles, kindles, iPads, tablets, smart watches
The age of digital convergence
- Digital convergences is the coming together of previously separate industries thanks to digital technologies
- What is digital technology? Any technology that involves computers!
- What is convergence? When previously separate industries come together! So music + online = music streaming! Music + television = music videos!
- However, today (in 2023), media is generally accessed exclusively through digitally convergent technology. In effect, digitally convergent media technologies have completely disrupted the study of media, as now all media formats are accessed, distributed, consumed and produced using exactly the same technologies. Therefore from this we can conclude that the consumption and production of media is now far more complex and nuanced than before.
Vlogging
- Vlogging refers to the act of keeping and publishing a video blog
- A blog is an online written diary. It is short for ‘web log’
- The recording of videos to document either one’s daily life, or something along those lines
- Vlog = video blog
- Blog = Web log, an online journal or diary
- Vlogging is a new media that is only made possible through digital technologies
Genres and topics of vlog
- Universities
- Travel
- Conventions
- Retro videogames
- Cycling
- Food
- Gym
- Family
- Fashion
- ‘A day in the life’
- Unboxing
- War and current conflicts
- Arts and crafts
- Dungeons and dragons
- Horror
- Ghost hunters
- Competitive eating
Why are vlogs so resonant with 16-24 year old audiences?
- Highly relatable
- Extremely specific subgenres
- Easily accessible through mobile phone technology
- Often passively consumed, often while doing something else …
- Often informative while being entertaining
- Often aspirational in terms of modes of address
- Produced by people with similar lifestyles, highly relatable
- Para-social relationships
- Free at the point of access