Blog task - Media Factsheet 104: Audiences in the digital age

1) What was the relationship between institutions and audiences in the pre-digital age?
- The relationship between the institution and audiences in the pre-digital age was seen as one-way where the audience are more passive and just take in the information that was presented to them. There was no way for the audience to give immediate response to the media text.

2) What is the definition of a mass audience? Give an example of a media product or institution aimed at a mass audience.
- Mass audience is communication towards a large audience
and an example of a product aimed at a mass audience could be BBC News.



3) What is the definition of a niche audience? Give an example of a media product or institution aimed at a niche audience.
- Niche audience is a select group of people that have specific interest that certain media products target that specific audiences needs. An example of a media product that would be aimed at a niche audience could be

4) How has digitisation changed the distribution of information and media products in the music, television and news industries?
-  Digitalisation has changed the distribution of information and media products in music by having it available at any times throughout the day instead of having to go out and purchase it or wait for it to be broadcasted. they can stream it on their devices. In terms of television it has changed dramatically from having a small amount of channels to being able to watch repeats without having to record on video and watching on demand and also on other media devices such as a mobile phone. The way we receive news has changed also since now everything is available online, news can be accessed at any time online or on TV where they showcase breaking news. whereas in the past it would be broadcasted on the radio as short bulletins or summaries.

5) How have developments in new and digital media helped make audiences active rather than passive?
- Audience are more active nowadays as they are given more of a choice to when they want to access a media product. They are also able to influence on the institution as they have more involvement than they did in the past when it came to the production process. for example in news videos sent in by the audience are used to add to the content being shown,

6) Provide specific examples of how audiences are now active in the music, news and film industries.
- In the Music Industry there are apps like youtube that allow the audience to comment under a music video which gives them the ability to respond immediately after as song has released. In the news industry, People now take to twitter as a popular way to spread their political views an major example of this is the President of the United States that has twitter and tweets about current situations in which people all over the world can respond immediately both positive and negative opinions. In the film industry audiences are more active due to the fact that the industry try to involve the audience as much as they can in order to generate excitement for the upcoming film that will be released. User Generated Content is a major factor that plays a part of an audience being active.

7) List THREE arguments that suggest the increasing power of audiences is a bad thing.
- Due to the fact that information is now spread more easily and quickly. The increasing power of audiences can be seen as a bad thing because of the fact that factual information can be lost with everyone being able to voice their opinions, therefore lies can spread just as quickly. Audiences may be seen as a product as their involvement in the institution through use generated content is cheap therefore they are still being directed by the institutional companies. Another argument can be that debates online within the audience is limited due to the increase in negativity that is spread though certain topics online.

8) Return to the question from the original lesson: Have audiences or institutions benefited more as a result of the internet? Answer this in an extended paragraph justifying your opinion using examples and quotes.
- I believe that despite the negative arguments that suggest that institution have benefited as a result of the internet. I think its the other way round. Due to the fact that they have more of an influence on what happens in the media nowadays, larger institutions have to take into consideration of their audiences needs as any negative response from the audience will have an impact on the institutions. There are many positive ways that the audience has influenced media through the internet. It is more likely for the their opinions and voices to be heard through how quickly information is spread through social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Things that happen on social media don't always go unnoticed. It is a platform in which people can come together to stand for what they believe in and spread light to different situations. Institutions need to be wary because one an audience start to have a negative response to their products it could cause damage to their companies.