Future of the Media

Q: Describe your vision of how the media world will be for most people five years from now. Discuss how and where people will access news, entertainment, and other media content, and examine what media companies may be important. Think back through all the readings to give examples and contexts.

Today people can get information from newspapers and magazines on their tablets, while printed versions are becoming archaic and will soon be a thing of the past. On sites such as Reddit, Yahoo, Facebook, Google+, and Twitter, happenings are announced almost immediately or sometimes even as the events unfold. Social media sites encourage people to communicate and sometimes they present a false sense of confidentiality based on your privacy settings. Some people tend to over-share every detail of their day or lives on Facebook, Google+, and/or Twitter, meaning friends or even strangers “know” them without ever speaking directly to them. With social media sites selling information in order to place relevant advertisements based on the sites you visit or the pages you “like,” it seems like there isn’t any privacy. In 5 years, Facebook may be the next MySpace and fade into oblivion, although it remains to be seen if Google+ will take its place. Many businesses are switching to other sites instead of using Facebook because of the changes being made to what their audience can see. Facebook used to be a great place for free advertising and now you are required to pay to reach a certain percentage of your followers (unless they go onto your page select “Get Notifications” from the drop-down menu). Many, such as photographers, are switching to Googe+, Flickr, 500px, and even Instagram so they can reach more followers and, in turn, get more business without having to pay for advertising. Facebook is popular now but when it creates a problem for businesses, it could force more people into moving to better and simpler sites. With technology like Google Glass, it seems the future of the media world will be even more integrated with our daily lives; we will have access to everything at our fingertips without even using our hands. However, we may have less privacy with every new advance in technology.