The Audience has left the Building
There is no more audience. There are no more users. There are only participants. Participants do not passively consume what an author, creator, director, developer, editor, critic or media outlet has to publish. They do not accept the authority. They do not sit silently ready to have their eyeballs converted into cash.
Participants participate. They create their own original information, entertainment and art. They remix their own version of mainstream pop culture - copyrighted or not. They post their thoughts, publish their fears and fact check every announcement. They share with their friends and discover the quirky and interesting making it an instant blockbuster – at least for 15 minutes.
Participants are no longer eyeballs to be converted. They are ideas to be declared. Individually they are a market of one. Collectively they are a trend, a publishing powerhouse and a voice to be heard. A voice that has something to say.
Anecdotally participants have changed the way media is published and interactions are monetized. But more broadly and importantly than that, they have changed the flow of global information from top down to bottom up. They are changing the tone and tempo of the conversation.
Elvis? Who is he? It's the audience who has left the building. All that's left are fellow participants. We are all authors, creators, directors, developers, editors, critics and media outlets. We are a million voices saying one thing - listen to me.
Are you paying attention?
Participants participate. They create their own original information, entertainment and art. They remix their own version of mainstream pop culture - copyrighted or not. They post their thoughts, publish their fears and fact check every announcement. They share with their friends and discover the quirky and interesting making it an instant blockbuster – at least for 15 minutes.
Participants are no longer eyeballs to be converted. They are ideas to be declared. Individually they are a market of one. Collectively they are a trend, a publishing powerhouse and a voice to be heard. A voice that has something to say.
Anecdotally participants have changed the way media is published and interactions are monetized. But more broadly and importantly than that, they have changed the flow of global information from top down to bottom up. They are changing the tone and tempo of the conversation.
Elvis? Who is he? It's the audience who has left the building. All that's left are fellow participants. We are all authors, creators, directors, developers, editors, critics and media outlets. We are a million voices saying one thing - listen to me.
Are you paying attention?
5 Comments:
I know some of those actions you've listed don't take that much effort (eg critiquing, at least if we're counting outside a formal way, or recorded way) but I always wonder if everyone is motivated enough to become participants, or if there's a fair size of the audience that really genuinely want to simply view and that's all
You might be right Pascoe - but there are also passive ways an audience can become a participant.
Clicking on content to make a viewing decision is a level of participation that traditional TV cannot match.
Also some consider Attention Data is actually a form of content creation. The resulting Attention Profile can be seen as a product of the participant and has a real effect on the viewing experience.
Participation may be subtle, but it does change the nature of the viewing experience - it is co-created with the publisher.
Ah, see my issue was considering only those explicit participation methods, not something as implicit as a click, but when I look at it that way, you're definitely right.
Would you say that to be passive aggressive is key? Passive in the fact that they have not created the content, yet, they are aggressive in changing the way the content is consumed, viewed, and perceived.
The participant/producer culture extends to more than just media:
Political Implications of the Cognitive Surplus
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