In the world of media convergence

"In the world of media convergence, every important story gets told, every brand gets sold and every consumer gets courted across multiple media platforms." 

Convergence refers to the way media is being produced and consumed. Jenkins (2008) believes that content is being distributed across multiple media platforms and consumers are actively controlling convergence. Old mediums are not going to 'die out' during the technology shift but instead they have been adapting and interacting between platforms. For example, Radio is seen as an 'old media' but its content can be spread into new technologies, allowing consumers to listen to the radio on their iPod. This is the content from one medium being distributed to another. Henry Jenkins argues against the theory that media mediums are developing and emerging together, bringing the same functions within different devices. It is becoming difficult to tell the differences between platforms if they are uniting into one digital form.

Consumers play a key role in convergence as they are the ones controlling what is being consumed.  "Each of us contructs our own personal mythology from bits and fragments of information we have extracted from ongoing flow of media around us and transformed into resources through which we make sense of our everyday lives." (Jenkins, 2008, p3). We decide what media we want, when, where and on what format. New media technologies are becoming more relevant in everyday life and people are using them daily. If consumers want to watch any film without going to the cinema, they can do so on their laptops in their bedrooms. Mobile phones are not only being used for making phone calls, but also for internet, games, photographs and videos.

Media convergence is overall the interaction between old and new media platforms. New media technologies are helping the old along. For example, radio and television channels now have internet websites where viewers can catch up on past shows and listen live on their laptops and phones. Convergence is constantly evolving and we don't know what will happen in the future. However with consumers controlling convergence, maybe we do. Convergence does not happen within the technologies themselves, but in the minds of the consumers influencing popular and media culture.


Source:

Jenkins, H. (2008). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide Revised. NYU Press.