Media Convergence Since The Turn Of The 21st Century

Since the turn of the century, media convergence has been occurring extremely rapidly. Such fast-moving convergence is due primarily to two things - the sharp upswing of the internet, and phones moving from their traditional role as a passive utility to becoming an integral part of societal interaction. Additionally, the creation of both internet and mobile phones has seen the two fields merge and grow together, providing the basis for most cross-platform communication of the 21st century. Now, in 2014, it is a basic expectation that one’s phone will call, text, and connect to both the internet and social media. Mobile phones and the internet have become inseparable.

Convergence, simply put, is “how individual consumers interact with others on a social level and use various media platforms to create new experiences and new forms of media and content that connect us socially” (Pannu and Tomar, p. 268). Take, for example, advertising. Having existed for centuries, advertising was primarily effective due to the use of persuasive or memorable devices directed at the target audience. While it was possible for advertisers to make informed guesses about who would be watching or reading their media, almost all consumers were still aware that they were watching an advertisement, and were could turn off the TV or radio, or turn past that page in the newspaper.

Most advertising occurs online, with the ads we see chosen by an algorithm that considers the words we type, the pages we like, our gender, age, location, and more. It is one-on-one advertising - far more precise than the “old” model of advertisements. Facebook and Google have most notably adopted this form of advertising, to great success. Some people applaud this, and some find it invasive - the idea that a program somewhere is analyzing every word you’ve typed on any one site can undoubtedly be