Friday 4 March 2011

Case Study- Cross Media Platforms Essay

"Audiences are no longer just consumers of texts, but producers too" - To what extent is this true of the media products in your case study?
Introduction paragraph

My case study consists of three media texts. They are of the genre children's programming. The three texts are SpongeBob Square Pants, In The Night Garden and Hannah Montana. They all fall on the three cross media platforms; Print, Broadcast and E-Media. This will show how audiences are no longer a consumer of media texts but are also producers. This is because the consumers have an impact on all programs as they dictate what should be viewed and what shouldn't.
How are audience producers of nickelodeons TV programme SpongeBob through the use of E-media?

The audience are producers of SpongeBob through the use of e-media because I have discovered that not only does the channel Nickelodeon have a website but there is a fan page on the social-networking website Facebook. The fan page is set up to make SpongeBob seem like he is real. The statuses that are posted are directed at the audience as one of the posts on the Facebook group page says “We’ve got a new game for you and it’s a doozy! Help SpongeBob and Patrick as they travel through six different Legends of Bikini Bottom. First up, Coral Colossus! ”. This post told the audience to check the link out which then lead them to the game on the Nickelodeon page where SpongeBob is located. This shows how the audiences input has created people to play this game on the website all from the control of Facebook. Another reason as to why the audience isn’t just a consumer but a producer too is through having pictures and video links from Facebook to YouTube to view these links. Apart from the official group on Facebook there are other fan pages and groups that have been created by fans of SpongeBob and the viewers of this programme. This shows how the audience have become the producers as well as consumers. This is also true with “In The Night Garden”.

 

How does in the night interact with its audience through print?

 

This is also true for “In The Night Garden” as the programme also has a page on the Cbeebies this includes games and educational activities which are aimed at the young audience, the audience being 2-4 years old. However this programme also has its own official website which also includes activities in which the target audience can interact with.  This website includes a tour of the garden getting the audience engaged by being able to view the garden as it is seen on telly. Another reason as to why audiences are no longer consumers but are also producers is through print. The reason for this is because “In The Night Garden” is involved in the Cbeebies magazine that is published every 2 weeks. The magazine gets published in Tesco, and Sainsbury this could be to do with mothers doing shopping and buy their toddlers magazines that would appeal to them.

 

How is social networking a form of UGC?

 

The use of social-networking is a form of UGC as it gets the audiences attentions an example of this is used for SpongeBob as it has a Facebook page which has the involvement of fans. The audience are seen as producers as they have created pages in which people can join. The Facebook fan page gets the audience involved as the person that has created it has made SpongeBob seem as if he is real as they speak directly to the audience to engage them and interact. There are posts that are linked with YouTube this is another example of UGC as people have the chance to search any video that is linked with SpongeBob. This also occurs with “In The Night Garden” as it is also linked with YouTube. The use of YouTube allows the audience to be able to watch previous episodes over and over again, also being able to post their own favourite episodes allowing other people to watch them too. all three texts have the use of UGC as they all have their own fan pages on Facebook, YouTube videos and their own websites. This shows how social-networking has an impact in all three texts.

 

Does Hannah Montana having a UGC web page make it successful for engaging its audience?

 

I think that by having a webpage that is user generated makes engaging its audience successful because it means that it can get the audience involved in what they see on the telly. An example of this UGC is through the use of having a game where you dress Hannah Montana up. This is located on the Disney channels website. It allows the audience to dress Hannah in the clothes that they see her in every time they watch her programme. This is successful because it allows the audience to dress her up and to be part of the website as they are involved with dressing her up. Another reason as to why audiences aren’t just consumers but are also producers is because Hannah Montana has her own magazine and there is a page where the audience can get involved and make their own story up. This gets the audience engaged as they automatically feel as if they are part of the programme as they can make their own story.

 
In conclusion to this I feel that new technology means that audiences are empowered to be producers not just consumers. The platform that enpowers audiences the most is E-media, this is because the institutions have to target their audience and aim specific things towards them in order to keep them entertained. The reason for this is because the audience have a strong input and can dictate what they want to see happen on the social-networking websites. However not only can they dictate but they can make what they want to see happen in the programmes they can now be part of it. This occurs through the use of social-networking for example Facebook, video websites such YouTube and their own official and non official websites. New technology is the main source of getting audiences involved as audiences can make websites, pages and videos this then leads on to other people finding out about these pages, this then concludes as to why these pages become UGC.