Jay Rosen accentuates the role shift that has taken place in response to the web in his discussion of the “The People Formerly Known as the Audience”. His piece clearly outlines the revolution that is well underway. Move over big media. It’s time to make room for the little guy. One such allusion of innovative media technologies is providing people with powerful tools to speak out…(and hopefully be heard of course). Regardless, Rosen reminds traditional media, “You don’t own the eyeballs. You don’t own the press, which is now divided into pro and amateur zones. You don’t control production on the new platform, which isn’t one-way. There’s a new balance of power between you and us. The people formerly known as the audience are simply the public made realer, less fictional, more able, less predictable. You should welcome that, media people. But whether you do or not we want you to know we’re here”.
Now let’s look at Chapters 1-3 of “The Long Tail” by Chris Anderson.
Anderson echoes the cries of Gillmor and Battelle’s technologically driven arguments that business and culture are evolving as a result of the interactive web. The “Internet as platform” phenomenon has swept us (as both consumers and producers) off our feet, while offering the promise of a hopeful tomorrow in which some of the control of centralized mass media is lifted and freedom granted to the citizen. Our whole social world is dominated by applications that are being “architectured for participation.” The “Service as a Software” (SaaS) economy is in tow. The mind-blowing possibilities of the ubiquitous Internet have intrigued communication scholars and media critics alike, and now media convergence clouds an already hazy view of the future. Niche markets pack a powerful punch accelerating the seemingly limitless social implications of emergent technologies. The economics of abundance is upon us and unlimited selection is transforming tomorrow’s markets. The crux of this novel design is simple and can be summarized in the tagline of Anderson’s book: the future of business is selling less of more.
