Henry Jenkins believes convergence to be the nature of the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the media industries ability to cooperate with each other, and also the movement patterns of media audiences. The media is a powerful tool that fires out information from many mediums, and mainly consists of a static, single-sided opinion, at least in the global west, it would seem. However, recent developments in communicative technologies, such as the Internet and smart phones have made it much easier for virtually anyone to voice their opinions via blogs, social media sites and YouTube. These powerful new mediums have also made it possible for those without access to these powerful technologies to have their stories heard, essentially giving a voice to the voiceless.
Federman in his article the “medium” is the “message”, draws attention to the idea that too often the content of the medium blinds us to the actual character of the medium (pp. 1-2). Meaning the device in which we receive content, is also telling us a vital message, which by most is overlooked, because we simply are not aware of it exists. He also sheds light on the fact that generally people presume when one speaks about mediums, they are referring to mass-media communications, such as radio, television, the press, and the Internet (p1).
Whenever a new innovation comes along, such as Facebook for example, many of its properties and functions are quite obvious – being able to connect with others, all around the globe etc. Society will quickly learn the general advantages and disadvantages of this new creation. However, as interaction with the medium evolves, we look back and are able to identify adverse effects which we were originally unaware of. In Facebook’s case this would be the creation of a whole new social world. A domain where one can communicate from any number of devices with their friends, free from any form of actual physically present form of social interaction. McLuhan believes that it is important that we identify with this change that comes with technology, so we are able to integrate it into our lives, and not the other way around.
The Internet, An Abyss 