Covergence culture pushing news agencies and media platforms out of their comfort zones

I think that the Arab Spring was a revolution not only in terms of politics but also in the way traditional news agencies began to source news coverage. For the first time on a mass scale, news agencies were drawing on the collective intelligence of the public to gather news sources.

For example CNN during the Arab Spring used crowd sourced information to complement their news coverage through iReport . This CNN website encourages members of the public to create an account and publish their stories, images or videos. CNN in their Egypt and Libyan uprisings official news coverage used 450 images and videos out of the 63,00 that citizen journalists shared on iReport.  (Batty,2013)  News agencies such as CNN saw the benefit of using citizen journalist data. After all, protesters are people in the thick of the action, whilst journalists are just observers. Therefore are able to offer different angles to the story. (Batty, 2013)

iReport has evolved into a news blog section within the CNN website. Anyone can comment, and share articles through social media plug ins on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus. ( iReport, 2014)

CNN’s iReport is an example of an organizational shift from producers to a community of prousers that can interact with the news site.  (Burns,2007) Being able to share information and express an opinion online has become essential in the world of participatory culture.

It’s not only news agencies that are encouraging citizens to use their websites as publishing platforms. As with CNN, LinkedIn has realized the benefits of opening up their publishing platform to all users. LinkedIn’s director of product management, Ryan Roslansky  makes the point that “Every professional has valuable experience to share.” (Anders, 2014) Opening the LinkedIn publishing platform to people other than “Influencers” means that anyone can have a chance to share ideas on the prominent networking site. Further, LinkedIn is trying to promote more interaction with the site. It has recently added in features that enable “liking”, sharing and commenting. (LinkedIn , 2013)

LinkedIn is enabling it’s members to make contributions to a pool of knowledge stored on their publishing platform.

Breaking through the monologic media barrier and joining the conversation !

 

It’s not about monologic, one way communication of media content.  We now are living in a dialogic media landscape. As the term ‘dialogic’ suggests,  ‘new’ media is about an interactive, two way communication.

We are encouraged to ‘join the conversation’ by liking, sharing, commenting and posting.  Even institutionalised/ traditional media has been required to adapt to the participatory culture of the internet. We can now tweet our remarks of the Q &A panel or even leave a comment on TIME magazine’s Facebook page.

The internet is the first medium in history that allows us to form groups, broadcast and converse all at the same time! (Shirkey, 2009)

This interaction is key to the dialogic media landscape.  For example LinkedIn allows members to endorse skills of their connections or post a recommendation.   Together with posts, endorsements, follows and recommendations a LinkedIn profile can be generated.

Further,   on LinkedIn members have the power to connect to ideas, companies , people and professional groups.  By following, joining , sharing a virtual community is formed.

Screenshot from UOW’s LinkedIn page

LinkedIn now allows any member to publish material on their professional publishing platform. (Hall, 2014)  So now anyone can post up their ideas for their connections to see.

Every click, status update, comment or view is generating content. After all now we are prousers in the online media landscape.

Click, accept these terms and conditions. Do you still have claim to your IP rights?

Intellectual property in a simplistic sense is about protecting the rights to ideas and information. It is critical for the law to protect the producers’ choice in how they distribute information and who can copy their work. However the ideals of IP are not always adequately safeguarded online. In the prouser era as Lessing outlines, we have a battle between the two extremes.  Those that those that want all information free for use vs those wishing to control and restrict information access.   I think the latter is currently winning the digital sphere.

Increasingly those that own websites and media platforms are charging us to access producers material and profiting from it. Jenkin’s describes this redesign of the digital economy as commercializing cyberspace. It is given that Newscorp may charge us a subscription fee to read The Australian online. Fair enough. As readers we did not write the articles. It’s not our work.

 

What about the social media platforms commercializing and profiting from your work and personal information ?  Take LinkedIn for example. Smith describes LinkedIn’s conditions as a ‘striking example’ of an IP rights grab. In clause 2.2 of the User Agreement it essentially states that LinkedIn Corporate can do anything from copy to reproduce from any information you upload to your account.  They go one step further and proclaim this right extends to future forms of information sharing.

What’s also odd is that Linkedin states in clause 2.7 that we as users of their platform have to inform them if we believe we are entitled to act contrary to their conditions.  Ie.  In simple terms, tell LinkedIn that we are going to use their information. Yet, they do not inform us when they use our data. Isn’t that a bit contradicting?

It’s like LinkedIn is saying to us, we will let you use our platform to promote your professional identity however in exchange for this service we will and can use your details and posts.

Sounds like an absurd violation of our right to our own information.  Yet, if we want to interact with social media we have no other choice than blindly click away our rights!

Exploring Trajectories of Convergence through Linkedin

During my first year at uni, I went to one of those Careers Central Introductions. The presenter described Linkedin as ‘Facebook for Professionals’.

Linkedin is revolutionalising the way we network. We can now introduce and be introduced to people through the web, rather than meeting and shaking hands.

Linkedin is so much more than establishing connections with like minded people. As simply displayed in the clip below, Linkedin is changing the way people head hunt and be head hunted for jobs.  

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myGxNhGO4x0]

Linkedin accounts are an extension of ourselves. It is not just another copy of our resume but an online, public identity.

It has become a great platform to market oneself in the job market. Also a platform through which increasingly organisations are using our information to market products and services at us.  How social media sites use our information for profit is a common concern across all online platforms.

Not all Linkedin accounts are equal either. If members want to pay for a premium or professional account  they can gain increased access to information. From a list of profile viewers to being able to introduce yourself to members outside ones connections.

Linkedin has been mobile since 2008. The mobile apps are  currently being developed with new features and associated apps. This allows us to stay connected, anywhere, anytime from a little mobile device.

 

References

 “Linkedin Premium Accounts .” ,. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.<http://www.linkedin.com/company/linkedin/linkedin-premium-subscription-3430/product?trk=biz_product>.

 

Moore, Christopher . “BCM112 2014 W2: Trajectories of Convergence.” prezi.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. <http://prezi.com/txfks1nt4gzv/bcm112-2014-w2-trajectories-of-convergence/>.

 

“Opportunity is always within reach..” Mobile. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. <http://www.linkedin.com/mobile>.

Pozin, Ilya. “200 Million Users? LinkedIn Is Just Getting Started.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 18 Apr. 2013. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/ilyapozin/2013/04/18/200-million-users-linkedin-is-just-getting-started/>.

 

 

“What is LinkedIn?.” YouTube. YouTube, 11 Mar. 2009. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myGxNhGO4x0>.