One of the most significant changes in the media is the shift in control. It has gone from the total control of a few corporations or governments involved in broadcasting centrally produced content, to a media that is open and accessible to the public. One in which anyone can produce and distribute content, and interact with others. Information is no longer the privilege of the elite.
Niche communities, social activists, freelance journalists, comedians and others have the ability to develop their own media. The tools are available to everyone, not only to create, but also to transmit.
The “new” media
This has led to a general description of these new forms and formats as ‘new means of communication‘. A term that is problematic, since it is not new and several of its features have been around for a long time. For example, online chat, and an early form of online social networking, has been around since 1979. The first magazine in blog format appeared in 1994.
What makes the media “old-fashioned”?
Digital media technologies are now part of our daily lives. Not only in our relationships with each other, but also with social institutions. They are no longer “new” and some are becoming “old”, if we take into account the speed of digital progress. Moreover, all media were once “new”. Classifying particular technologies and practices as new will become increasingly problematic as new developments occur.
In our changing media environment, the terms “social media” and “social networks” are widely used to describe a range of new communication applications. The social networks are a more appropriate and useful term than most others in encapsulating the fundamental difference between emerging forms of Internet-based media and traditional media.
Social media are part of the so-called “new” media age. This is characterized by a decentralized communication network. It turns senders into receivers, producers into consumers, rulers into ruled. They disrupt the established logic and understanding of the “old” media.
Another characteristic of the media is that it is outside the control of the state and is increasingly democratizing. It is a two-way, decentralized and interactive form of communication. In short, the name for social media relates to the fact that access and content are open and largely controlled by society. Not by the government or elite organizations. Their forms are used for social interaction (ie, conversation, sharing e collaboration). It is not a one-way transmission of information