Media Use and Production Evaluation.

In recent times, due to the introduction of new forms of media traditional structures of Journalism and Communication have altered. In order to highlight and recognise the effect of personal media interaction on Journalism my fellow students and I were asked to record our media use over a period of 10days. Da y Medium of media Facebook Newspap er TVNews/Curre nt Affairs Radio Cinema YouTube Twitter Magazine s Internet News Sites TV Shows/ Programmin g Blogs Mo n Tu e Wed Thu rs Fri Sa t Su n Mo n Tue Wed TO TA L 68 0 11 0 33 0 17 5 0 53 0 19 0 14 0 16 5 14 10 26 5 Average Mins Per Day 123.6363 636 20 50 31.81818 182 0 96.36363 636 34.54545 455 25.45454 545 33 256.3636 364 48.18181 818

Minuets Per Day 30 10 30 5 0 60 20 0 0 200 60

12 0 15 30 40 0 0 20 0 0 60 30

90 0 30 20 0 20 10 50 30 90 60

60 10 30 30 0 60 20 0 50 120 0

80 0 30 0 0 120 30 30 60 120 40

90 40 10 0 0 20 0 60 20 0 28 0 0

0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 30 0 0

60 0 30 20 0 40 10 10 15 60 40

30 15 30 60 0 30 20 30 25 60 5

120 10 60 0 0 0 0 0 40 120 30

Media/ Production Twitter Blogging Facebook 5 0 10 0 12 0 0 10 0 30 0 30 10 0 0 5 0 30 0 10 12 0 0 0 0 20 20 0 10 10 120 30 55 42 0 11 5 10 76.36363 636 20.90909 091

Media Use / Consumption Internet The internet represents the future of mass media. As can be seen in Figure 3 last year alone it registered a 17.2% growth in the amount of users. (Media Literacy Clearing House, 2008) Regarding my personal Media consumption I have followed the trends set by over 17,033,826 Australians and used the internet as my primary source of communication and information. Figure 1 indicates Facebook as the form of media that I use predominantly whilst online typical of a web 2.0 user. This is right on par with other students within JOUR1111 as, according to Survey monkey it is the most popular online activity with 91.9%

of students acknowledging it as what they spend most of their time online doing. Overall over the 10 day period I spent 680 minutes on Facebook. Although this does differ day to day due to university, sporting and cultural commitments on average I spent 123mins on Facebook daily. Moreover, arguments have arisen to suggest that my use of social networking sites is the main contributor to other online activities such as YouTube and Online news. This claim is supported by recent studies into the popularity and symbiosis of Facebook which reported 77% of American teenagers post videos to friends page or wall (Media Literacy Clearing House, 2008) and 48% of teenagers said they found out about news Facebook. (Media Literacy Clearing House, 2008) Thus, due to the growing symbiosis of internet sites my Facebook use directly influences the amount of time that I spend on other forms of internet media.

Figure 3: Percentage increase in Web Participation. (Media Literacy Clearing House, 2008)

Newspaper, Magazine and TV News Traditional news media has struggled in recent years to maintain the popularity that it once held amongst consumers. A study conducted In Columbus Ohio indicated that the Internet has a competitive displacement effect on traditional media in the daily news domain with the largest displacements occurring for television and newspapers. (John Dimmick, 2004) This is further supported by my own results in Figure 1 where it depicts that I spent daily on average 15mins longer examining online new sites than newspapers and magazines. However, my personal results and the results of my fellow peers in JOUR1111 did differ from the above study in that Television was still the medium that we gathered the majority of our news. My personal use depicts that I use TV as my primary news and current events medium. (Figure 1) Moreover, JOUR1111 also shares this pattern with 71% of students according to survey monkey, indicating that Television was their main source of News. Media Production Production of media until the introduction of Web 2.0 was reserved mainly for professionals. However with advancements in social media sites such as Facebook and Blogs, creation of Media has become a individual rather than institutional pursuit. A clear example of this is seen the JOUR1111 survey where 94.7 percent of participants saying they have 1 or more Facebook accounts. In addition to this, 37% admitted to having a fully functional blog. This production of media until recent times would have been minor or inexistent. My personal media production compared to other students within Jour 1111 shares common similarities. On average I spent over 1 hours per day producing media though social networking sites. (Figure 1) It is important to note that the time spent producing this media, overflows into time spent consuming

media from these media. For as stated by Lenhart a basic symmetry is seen to exist between media production and their audiences (Amanda Lenhart, New York Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, 2009) New Media Vs Old Media Personal media use encompasses a broad range of mediums. In Figure 1 I have outlined the mediums which according to leading media profiler Victoria Jae Rideout are among the most powerful forces in young peoples lives today. (Victoria J Rideout, 2010) From the outset it is obvious that my media usage is evenly distributed between Old and New Media as seen in Figure 2.

New Media Vs Old Media

Old Media 52% New Media 48%

Figure 2: Old media Vs New Media Percentage

Media Consumption %
Blogs 7%

Facebook 19%

TV Shows/ Programing 33%

Newspaper 3% TV-News/Current Affairs 8% Radio Cinema 4% 0%

Internet News Sites 4%

Youtube 13% Magazines 4% Twitter 5%

Figure 2: Percentage representation of Media Consumption

That said, the distribution of media consumption between individual forms is drastically varied. An example of this is seen by disregarding TV programming ( which encompasses 33% of my total media consumption) a swing of 23% towards new media occurs. This correlates with research conducted In Europe during a 2005 study from the European Interactive Advertising Association which found almost half of 15- to 24-year-olds are watching less TV in favour of browsing the web. (Riley, 2008) Thus it is evident that although overall my media consumption tends to lean towards Old forms of media and journalism, in reality I have a wider base of use and repetition amongst new media sources.

In Summary, my personal media use is on par with others within my age grouping in contemporary society. As time progresses the likelihood of greater media production by individuals will increase and the patterns of high social networking and online use will continue.

Works Cited Amanda Lenhart, New York Department of Health & Mental Hygiene. (2009, April 10). Teens and Social Media An Overview. New York, America. John Dimmick, Y. C. (2004). Competition Between the Internet and Traditional News Media: The Gratification-Opportunities Niche Dimension. Journal of Media Economics , 19-33. Media Literacy Clearing House. (2008). Media Use Statistics. Retrieved March 28, 2012, from http://www.frankwbaker.com/mediause.htm Riley, D. (2008, May 28). The Inquisitor. Retrieved March 30, 2012, from http://www.inquisitr.com/1917/television-will-fall/ Victoria J Rideout, U. G. (2010). Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds. 79.