Networked Societies and Convergence Culture

1. WEEK 2:
NETWORKED SOCIETIES
AND CONVERGENCE
CULTURE EMMA SMALL
15305770

2. CONVERGENCE CULTURE
Want to watch a movie? Buy a new pair of pants? Read a
book? Book a holiday? Listen to the radio? Or even be able
to listen to any song you want in any order you want..
Imagine being able to do all that from one single device?
Convergence culture is the idea of brining all things together, in this
case it is about brining different medias together for media
convergence.

3. WHAT IS MEDIA CONVERGNECE?
Every conceivable kind of information now comes to
us all in one device.
Convergence is when old and new media collide
(Henry Jenkins).
For example televisions and smart phones
merging, you can now watch any tv show
you desire whenever & where ever you want
all from your phone in the palm of your hand.

4. SMART PHONES
Your iPhone/Android/Samsung/Smart phone that you
probably have sitting right next to you whilst reading
this or you may even be using to view this
presentation.. were first created to have one use, as a
device to talk. Now days because of media
convergence your phone is so much more than just a
“phone”. It is a device that reaches out to so many
different platforms of media and applications,
expanding our reach into the internet and allowing us
to engage with people and things never first thought
imaginable.

5. WHY IS MEDIA
CONVERGENCE
HAPPENING?
I believe that as a result of social cultures changing, media convergence has
to happen to keep with times if businesses/industries want to keep their
platforms going, for example newspapers going online and turning into smart
phone applications.
As our society is constantly looking to better the way that we engage with
one another faster and easier and with lots fun and new options e.g. photo
sharing (Snapchat, Instagram) that it is forcing technological progression to
happen, therefore all different forms of media are merging into a single
format which is now reachable through a single device.
“MEDIA CONVERGENCE IS AN ONGOING PROCESS,
OCCURING AT VARIOUS INTERSECTIONS OF MEDIA
TECHNOLOGIES, INDUSTRIES, CONTENT & AUDIENCES”
HENRY JENKINS

6. HENRY JENKINS ON CONVERGENCE CULTURE AND NEW MEDIA LANDSCAPES

7. MEDIA CONVERGENCE
AND THE EFFECTS ON
US?
The aspects of how media convergence is shaping our online digital world was what I found the most
interesting about this topic, how it has it’s negatives and positives within these networked societies that have
emerged from convergence cultures.
Pros
-Media convergence has
allowed us to make media a
huge part of our lives
-New technologies, business
models, applications
-Portable devices
-Cheap
-Easy to access information
-Varity of choice
-Able to express opinions
-Quick
-Deeper engagement with
audiences/family/friends
-Advertisements
- One device
-New ways for users to
produce media
Cons
-Old media wastages, always
wanting the latest ‘new media’
-Technological
waste(environment)
-Information overload
-Cost $
-Accessibility/user friendly
-Lack of skills
-Internet connections
-Media companies controlling
everything you see
-Your personal data becoming a
commodity
- Everything about you on 1
device, easy foe companies to
find out data

8. EFFECTS OF MEDIA CONVERGENCE ON
US ONLINE…
PRIVACY? COMMODIFICATION?
Throughout my research and readings into media convergence many of the discussions
and aspects around the topic were related to the idea of privacy rights and
commodification of personal data from being online and social media using.
As media convergence involves a huge range of various platforms that are
accessible from your smart phone or laptop there is so much personal information
and data that is being consumed by different companies like the social media giant,
Facebook, search engines like Google.
Information that is constantly being consumed on a daily basis
can be your personal bank details, addresses, income, your
current location at times thanks to websites and apps that use
GPS for geographical location tracking.

9. MEDIA CONVERGENCE IN EVERYDAY LIFE Media Convergence got me
thinking about how all these
different companies know so
much about you just from your
devices, and in a way it is
because of media convergence,
because we do have all this
data in one place. It encourages
personal data commodification
as companies are able to shape
your digital experience and
create it to being exactly what
they think you need and want
online, so they can tailor
everything you see and do to
your personal ‘profile’, by
showing you the right ads, in
the right places at the right time
in the hope that you are more
likely to be attracted and
become a consumer for these
advertisements, resulting in a
profit for the businesses and
companies.

10. • Key concerns that are associated with the ongoing changes in our
networked societies and media converging culture is the
commodification of our personal data. Fears about privacy and
anonymity. Although there are many people out there who have
fears about sharing their personal data they share online, it is
becoming hard to be able to be active on social media, apps and
websites without your basic information being collected and used for
research
• I believe that as we live in
such a networked online
society/world it is hard to
stay out of it and I think that
these networking sites are
not necessarily exploiting
us, they are helping us to
provide the content and
adverts that are
accustomed to our personal
lifestyles based on what we
do on the internet.
Personally, with my use on
Facebook there has been
many moments when I
have realized how
surprisingly well-targeted
my Facebook's ads are to
myself, and I’m sure many
of you have experienced
this too.
• Commodification of our personal data is challenging the social norm of privacy online.
“A desire for privacy is no longer the "social norm, people have really gotten
comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly
and with more people”. (Zuckerberg) This social norm is something that has been
evolving over time, as the amount of social media and websites that ask for personal
information, is always on the increase.
• The challenge that many of us have today with personal data commodification is
being able to have a good balance with sharing information about ourselves online
and in return these websites ideally being able to providing tools and advantages for
us to use to enhance our online digital experience with their apps and websites from
our data that they retrieve from us.
• The concern with anonymity, is that people feel they are losing their right to able to be
anonymous online, but with our culture being an online society, constantly choosing
to be engaged in digital culture, it is resulting in their being less of a chance of staying
anonymous online.

11. Figure 1: This is an audience commodification process model, which aids to understand how
audiences, media and advertisers work with each other to access and use our data. (Kang &
McAllister, 2011)

12. CONCLUSION/DISCUSSION
Overall I believe that media convergence has been good for our
society as it has blurred the traditional barriers between media
producers and users as it allows users to be producers on all
types of media platforms by creating and distributing content,
communicating, engaging and all whilst being able to do so from
generally a single device.
Allowing us to be a generation of ’Prosumers’ via Snapchat,
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter we can express our opinions and
edit and create our own forms of media.
For myself as an active social media/online user,
media convergence has contributed to things such
as data commodification occurring. But even if our
data is being commodified in some way it still is to
the benefit of us as we are getting a tailored internet
experience, just as we would like to see it to meet all
of our needs and wants.
Do you think that media convergence and personal data commodification are linked too? and have you ever
experienced it online across different media platforms ?
What are your other thoughts/opinions, do you agree or disagree with anything I’ve said? Would love to hear!
Let me know in the forums 

13. References
• Jara, Barbara. (2017, February, 24). Privacy Analyzer: Media Convergence in everyday
life. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lknG8hdncTE
• Jenkins, H. (2006) Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York,
London: New York University Press, pp. 1-24.
• Jenkins, H. (2009, September 21). Henry Jenkins on convergence culture and new media
landscapes. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibJaqXVaOaI
• Kang, H., & McAllister, M. P. (2011). Selling You and Your Clicks: Examining the Audience
Commodification of Google. Pennsylvania State University .
• Zuckerberg, M. (2015, October 1). The price of free: how Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and
Google sell you to advertisers. Retrieved from PC World.