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| Credit: Pixabay |
The
advent of social media has changed the one-way model. A message can be
disseminated across large populations and those people can have an impact on
what happens. Livesay (2011) proposes that we redefine mass media into two
categories:
- Old (or traditional) mass media, such as television, books and magazines, that involve ‘one-to many’ communication, based on a one-way process of producers creating information that is transmitted to large numbers of consumers, and:
- New mass media, such as peer-to-peer networks, involving ‘many-to-many’ communication based on two-way communication with participants as both producers and consumers of information. ‘New’ forms of mass media can involve two-way communication within a mass audience who are both producers and consumers. (p.3).
In the last week alone, we witnessed the influence the
public has because of new mass media. Starbucks decided to stop writing “RaceTogether” on coffee cups, an effort to start a conversation about race within
its more than 20,000 stores (Contrera, 2015). Criticism ranged from Starbucks’
role in gentrifying neighborhoods and the lack of diversity of company
executives to the images used in marketing materials. Although Starbucks CEO
Howard Schultz said the purpose was the be a catalyst for a broad conversation
about race in the United States and it was scheduled to conclude after a week,
the reality is that the conversation revolved around Starbucks’ naiveté in
trying to make baristas hold a productive discussion about deeply rooted social
issues with customers waiting for their coffee.
Not sure what @Starbucks was thinking. I don't have time to explain 400 years of oppression to you & still make my train. #RaceTogether
— April (@ReignOfApril) March 17, 2015
The
new mass media allows for those who consume information to also be the
producer, blurring the line on a hard-and-fast distinction with traditional
forms of mass media (Livesay, 2011). An example would be the tweets
and blog responses from critics that consumed content in learning
about Starbucks’ campaign, while also producing content that was viewed by
others; the most popular responses being used as a source of content in news
reports. Our technological advancements of digital media has allowed communication
to occur in a one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many format.
References
Contrera, J. (2015, March 22). Starbucks will stop writing ‘Race
Together’ on your cups now. Washington
Post. Retrieved from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2015/03/22/starbucks-will-stop-writing-race-together-on-your-cups-now/
Foster, K. (2015, March 22). No,
Starbucks, I don’t want to #RaceTogether. I’m tired of talking. Retrieved
from: http://www.forharriet.com/2015/03/no-starbucks-i-dont-want-to.html#axzz3VpGp5P9O
Livesay, C.
(2011). Defining the mass media. Retrieved
from: http://www.sociology.org.uk/media_defined.pdf
Rothkopf, J. (2015, March 17). Starbucks’ cringe-inducing #RaceTogether
campaign has caused a Twitter firestorm. Salon.
Retrieved from: http://www.salon.com/2015/03/17/the_best_twitter_responses_to_starbucks_ill_considered_racetogether_campaign/
Solis, B., & Breakenridge, D. (2009). Putting the public back in public relations: How social media is
reinventing the aging business of pr. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press.
Tesfaye, S. (2015, March 26). Journalism
professors issue letter critical of 60 Minutes Ebola coverage. Retrieved
from: http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/03/26/journalism-professors-issue-letter-critical-of/203060
