The future of the media...

There is a common theme within the ARTS3091 course, and previous blog posts on this site – the changing media landscape and the implications of this change.  It is clear that the media industry has had to adapt to the ‘internet of things’.  Some have adapted well, others haven’t.

Some significant changes that have become apparent; there is no longer a strict focus on traditional (print) media.  There has been a significant rise in the blogosphere with sites such as Huffington Post and Mashable (both American) being sites that have become well-know in breaking news and stories before traditional media.  Within this blogosphere, bloggers such as mummy bloggers, fashion bloggers and beauty bloggers are becoming increasingly popular and increasingly credible as the word of mouth function displayed in these blogs is seen as more trustworthy. 

Through these changes other media based industries have had to adapt as well and implement strategies to this transmedia landscape.  An industry that I have interest in is Public Relations.  PR companies obviously have seen the shifts that have occurred since the introduction of the internet and therefore have had to adjust strategies in campaigns in order to be a viable business and receive success for their clients.  One such strategy is recognising that hybrid media channels such as blogs and social media can propel stories in traditional media.  Still to this day, traditional media, more often than not, is still the desired outlet for companies to receive media coverage in over the internet.  However, strategies have shifted to initially gaining media coverage through social media and hybrid media channels, which then gains the attention of traditional media forms and therefore then receives media coverage.  This shift has occurred due to the 24/7, 365 structure of the internet and social media with a lot of buzz occurring on these sites.  If PR companies can get cut through on hybrid media channels and trend on twitter or have numerous everyday people mentioning the campaign, this in turn jumps out to traditional media forms.

The future of media and communications and the future of media relation companies therefore lies in their ability to pick up on a shift in the media landscape and adjust and strategise.  The media industry will still be the media industry in the future; however, the usual terms such as ‘traditional media’ are changing.  Hybrid media forms such as blogs and social media are slowly being seen as traditional media, with the definition shifting from simply being print media.