Franki Abraham - Reading Response 2

Henry Jenkins' "Convergence Culture; Worship at the Alter of Convergence: A New Paradigm for Understanding Media Change” is 1) a mouthful and 2) the reason I began to reflect on active consumerism vs. passive consumerism in the context of our class material and social media in general.

Now, due to the inherit nature of media itself, we are consumers, perhaps not the kind that purchase a television from a certain company or choose which milk is advertised to have the most calcium but never the less we are mass consumers of information due to the internet and it’s many avenues. This is means that certain people fall beneath one of two categories: the passive and the active.

A passive media consumer is merely an absorber. They may watch an informative YouTube clip, a live stream speech, read a blog post, or an article, etc. etc., but then they remain static. They absorb the information and the go on their merry way without reflection, discussion or reaction. If they had any opinion on the material they were just presented, they make no effort to spread the word and keep it to themselves. According to Jenkins, this is how most people used to behave toward online media, but now the dam has been broken.

Example: Passive Consumer

Consumers are becoming more “noisy” or in more specific terms they are becoming more active. Instead of letting the video, blog, or article go unnoticed, these consumers spread the word and spread it loud. They discuss, share, link, post the things they value all over their social outlets and twitter feeds, for everyone to see and explore as well. This allows information to spread faster, more effectively and gain momentum. They become the new networking system for the producers of the information and content.

Example: Active Consumer

The constant progression of technology is also encouraging this new culture and Jenkins states “consumers are fighting for the right to participate more fully in their culture.” Rather than a few years ago, now almost all consumers are attempting to become active.

We need these active participants to move forward into a more involved Internet culture and we are already steadily making our way there. Memes, .GIFs, YouTube skits, blogs, these are all are user generated and user spread content that is the definition of Jenkins’s active consumers. The age of passiveness has (haha) passed and companies are reacting as just. They also must reevaluate and reconstruct their product to appease these lively beings instead of resist and retreat back into their old fashioned ways.