Van Dijck and T. Poell,’Making Public Television Social? Public Service Broadcasting and the Challenges of Social Media’,Television & New Media, 2015, Vol.16(2), pp.148-164

This essay is concerned with social media and its presence in terms of public broadcasting (television) in Europe. It suggests how many public entities, such as the BBC and The Dutch broadcasters, have faced a number of challenges regarding the rise of social media and discusses their responses.

The rise of social media ‘affects both the social practice of television and its cultural form’ and has led to many broadcasters finding it difficult to juggle the public social media platform. He explains how many social spaces have developed into commercially exploited, data-driven platforms, especially when this connective media quickly began to be dominated by a handful of large global networks (Facebook, Twitter, and Google). He continues by discussing how this can be managed by these broadcasters, including media creation and involvement by the public.

It applies to institutions as the rise of social media institutions has strongly shaken the scene in media, allowing for a multitude of creators and producers to come forward. It blurs the line between media businesses and local producers.