Will the Internet get the monopoly of media?
Internet is like a parasite. It is spreading everywhere and captures new sides of our life. And only the lazy journalists don´t realise that Internet will be the major media. The person of year by “Time” magazine were “You” who influenced on politics through blogs, podcasts and youtube-video. “You” are not only the person of the year, “You” are the journalists of the year.
These new types of media, called Web 2.0 projects are real threats of old media like TV and newspaper. But will this media with users-generated content lead into a monopoly? Or is this forecast as false as the former forecast that the film industry should have collapsed twenty years ago?
One side of internet is technical progress. It does create new possibilities of spreading media content, but it doesn’t create a new media. When you listen your favorite radio station through internet or watch TV on the web-site of a TV-channel, it is only new delivery type of known media. It’s like developing from analog to digital TV: no new media is created.
Web 2.0 is new and amazing how ever. Anybody who has a blog or an account on youtube can be a journalistist, even though Microsoft Word doesn`t recognize words “blog” and “podcast”, internet civil journalism became real thing.
But today’s amazement of web 2.0 projects doesn’t mean that the Internet will get the monopoly of media. Words like “Internet” and “monopoly” used together create a paradox. Internet is created with the feeling of freedom and it can’t monopolize anything.
The other argument against the monopolization of media is that there is still a place for old types of media is the consumers behavior. The media is on its own a product and all products are created for the needs of the consumer. When I want to get specific information, I turn on my computer and go online. But when I want to just relax and stop thinking about what information to consume, the remote control is in my hand. The maximum effort I use then is when I switch the channel, but the decision what information that will be consumed is made by the editorial staff. This difference between passive consuming and active searching of information will define the future of the media market. The presence of passive consumers is the main reason for television staffs not to worry about their job.
And the internet enthusiasts shouldn’t forget that today internet has only about 5% share of media market even in USA (in terms of advertising revenue, according to the Newspaper Association of America). In developing countries it is even smaller than 1%. Any statistics will say that is not enough market share to talk about an uprising monopoly.
Posted in 2006+07 M100| 02.09.07
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