Discuss the phenomenon of digital media convergence in relation to one of the following: Advertising & New Media or Music Video Online.
"Convergence culture, as a concept, articulates a shift in the way global media industries operate, and how people as audiences interact with them"(Deuze, M., 2009). In this case convergence refers to the ways in which types of media that were once very much individual have become merged together. Indeed a simpler way to understand the concept is to consider the vastly increasing number of platforms within which one now finds advertising, and the plethora of ways we are advertised to in the 21st century. Advertising as a discipline has evolved and diversified significantly from what Spurgeon calls direct information-based advertising of the Print-era (2008). In 2012 digital convergence, at least in terms of Advertising and New Media, has been all but totally realised. The advent of 3G technology has helped to achieve the prized notion of "location-sensitive one-to-one marketing communications" (Wilken & Sinclair, 2009), whilst rising popularity in social-network based websites, particularly Facebook, has given advertisers the opportunity to target progressively shrinking demographics. Whilst both of these factors are important steps in the eventuation of digital media convergence, they both raise interesting questions about personal privacy in the digital age and the impact of digital media convergence on society/daily life.
It would not be a far stretch to say that in 2012 we live in the age of 3G. The Apple iPhone (and other such touch-screen mobile phones) is one of the most familiar cultural icons of the day, with a vast population of users spreading across a vast range of demographics. As far as convergence in advertising is concerned the iPhone has become akin to the Arc of the Covenant, enabling advertising to reach consumers in new and increasingly diverse fashions. "The Swiss Army knives of technology' (Story, 2007), the iPhone has realised the potential of 3G technology in advertising. It is also the perfect modern example of digital convergence in our day-to-day lives. In one device one can now find their mobile communications, music library, television, radio, map, calendar, camera, gaming, banking, news, transport info and social networking in the palm of ones hand, and that's just to name a few. Whilst at first this would seem to be an advertisers dream the platform creates various complexities with regards to the customer. 3G technology and its implication in advertising is expanding exponentially. Wilken and Sinclair use the example of Australian-based mobile content provider HWW, "claim[ing] that, by combining ‘behavioural targeting’ techniques and location-based services, they can find for their customers ‘somebody who is within an age range, and a demographic, with a source of interest that you want, who’s doing a specific thing at a specific time, and give them a message’ (quoted in ‘On the Radar’, 2006)" (Wilken & Sinclair, 2009). The phenomenon of digital media convergence in advertising and new media has huge potential but this potential raises some Orwellian notions regarding privacy. In the 2008 Advertising Age article "Want to target online? You better build trust", Sherman quotes Sarah Welch, chief operating officer of ad network Mindset Media - "[consumers] are afraid fundamentally of a giant database in the sky that is collecting information from different sources and has an aggregated file ... that can be linked back to you, and the information in that file could be used to discriminate against you or harass you with unwanted solicitation in the future" (Sherman, 2008). Digital Media Convergence has brought advertisers much closer to their consumers, thanks to tracking of individual usage data by companies such as Google and Facebook.
According to Spurgeon, companies "are looking for new ways to reach increasingly distracted, distrustful and disinterested consumers... to avoid being a cause or irritation and interruption, many of these advertisers creatively embed their messages in media flows and experiences that coveted consumers will actively seek out" (2008). Quite possibly the most popular of such sought-out media experiences is provided by the social network Facebook, launched in 2004 and now comprising 901 million users, over half of which access the site from mobile devices (Sengupta, 2012). Much like the iPhone, Facebook is a convergent platform, combining a huge variety of Web 2.0 functionalities. Thus, it has enabled various developments regarding advertising and new media. "As an online directory for a good chunk of the human race, with the names, photos, tastes and desires of nearly a billion people"(Sengupta, 2012) Facebook is primed for advertising. According to their spiel Facebook allows the advertiser to "create an outline of your ideal customer including details such as their location, age, gender and interests". As Facebook is a site for digital convergence, with users interacting with one another, playing online games, following news and current affairs from prominent figures and creating albums of photos and videos, the information it has on the individual that can be provided to the advertiser is immensely vast and thus the platform has drawn criticism over privacy concerns. In her 2010 research paper "Privacy and Perceptions: How Facebook Advertising Affects its Users" Katherine K. Roberts found that the aforementioned criticism (such as the examples found here & here) are not held by a large population (of the sample) of Facebook's demographic users. 88% of students studied across the 4 universities (representing all different geographical regions of the country, with half representing large, public institutions and the other small, private institutions) had seen directly targeted advertisements with an overall 54.7% saying this did not change their perception of privacy (however the majority swung between campuses), 66.7% said the use of micro-targeting did not change their perception of the company and those that did were split between a positive and negative change in perception; with only 5% of all students not logging in on a daily basis (Roberts, 2009). In light of the criticisms against Facebook and the data presented by Roberts, it is possible to draw several conclusions regarding Digital Media Convergence and New Media. Facebook's main demographic is comprised of 'digital natives', and data suggests that such digital natives (being fully immersed in convergence culture) do not maintain the widely documented privacy phobias mentioned earlier. It would appear that the younger generation, completely familiarised with most forms of new media, understand these new methods in advertising are par for the course.
Digital Media Convergence, particularly in relation to Advertising and New Media can be a frightening concept. From the 3G technology pinpointing ones location, to the personal data collected from ones Facebook profile, the complete digital profile of ones entire online experience is becoming a reality. Whilst the data collection practices and motives of companies like Facebook and Google has been criticised it is becoming increasingly clear that this is a necessary evil of convergence culture for the success of a convergent capitalist culture.
Reference:
Deuze, M. (2009) Media Industries, Work and Life, European Journal of Communication, vol.24, no.4, pp.467-80
Roberts, K. (2010) 'Privacy and Perceptions: How Facebook Advertising Affects its Users' The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, vol.1, no.5, pp.24 - 34
Sherman, E. (2008) 'What to target online? You better build trust' Advertising Age, 79.
Sinclair, John and Wilken, Rowan (2009) 'Waiting for the kiss of life : mobile media and advertising' Convergence: the journal of research into new media, vol.15, no.5, pp.427 - 445 http://con.sagepub.com.simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au/content/15/4/427.full.pdf+html
Spurgeon, C. (2008) Advertising and New Media, Oxon, Routledge, pp.24 - 45
Story, L. (2007) ‘New Bar Codes Can Talk with Your Cellphone’ The New York Times, 1 April, URL
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