A review of changes to the media landscape

Abstract

A profound truth insists, ―If the map does not agree with the ground, the map is wrong‖ (Livingstone 2006: 1). I experienced this phenomenon while backpacking in Europe and posting a parcel home from Italy. Frustrated, I realised that posting a parcel in Italy was not the same as in South Africa. Although mechanistically the Italian postal service works much the same way as the South African one, there is a vastly different way of going about it. Wherein lies the point: the map was wrong. Similarly, the personal computer has changed the way people communicate. Although the mechanisms of communication remain the same, the ground has changed and the industry needs to redraw its map. Web 2.0, media convergence, interactivity, social networks, social media, online, mobile, wikis, crowdsourcing, and a plethora of other online tools have shifted the communication paradigm and its method of operation. This paper reviews the media environment, and examines what has changed and suggests possible consequences of these changes for the communication industry