FI found the Making public television social? Public Service Broadcasting and the challenges of Social Media journal by Jose Van Dijck and Thomas Poell particularly interesting because it showed the enormous impact that the rise of social media, interactive media and platform mobility had on European Public Broadcasting. The article concerns itself with how public broadcasters are coping to the challenges posed by social media, it explores the difficulties that arise when looking to distribute across relevant mediums and producing ‘up to date’ media.

When reading the introduction, a specific example jumped out at me, the question the authors asked were ‘How can public broadcasters profit from social media? I interpreted this question as referring to how public institutions can use social media to not only gain an audience (most likely a younger ones) but intertwine social media with television content. An example that came to me in regards to ‘Social T.V’ was the after-match football coverage.

Before social media moulded and shaped the media landscape in such a profound way, the post-match show consisted of a single shot that presented the commentators discussing and analysing the match events that had previously unfolded. However whilst watching the coverage after the Swans/Demons game last Saturday night, I noticed (at the bottom of the screen) tweets from fans were constantly being displayed and highlight, in was so profound that I couldn’t focus on what the presenters were saying. I was sitting there  consuming social media spawning from a different medium (my television). This example demonstrates the convergence of the social media and public broadcasting and how the two are interdependent. In recent years it is quite obvious that social media has become a vital part of television, especially on the government funded stations such as the ABC. It is unlikely to watch a talk-show or even game show without Tweets and Posts from Twitter and Facebook respectively, appearing.

To look at how public broadcasting has intertwined itself with social media I only have to open up Facebook and view my home page. At the top right of my screen which shows me what’s ‘trending’ I have ‘Mad Men Finale’ an AMC production, the first thing on my home page is an article published by 774 ABC Melbourne entitled ‘Dying at home’ and the next is a Rolling Stone Breaking Bad Article. This shows television influencing social media, by setting up Facebook pages and Instagram accounts the producers allow the audience to engage with the shows on  separate platforms to which they are initially broadcast. They create a new level of engagement. Television heavily impacts the culture of social media. An example of this is with ‘Mad Men’ tonight. I spent 50 minutes watching the episode and probably about an hour on various social media sites and blogs reading up fan interpretations and comments.

Djick and Powell’s article demonstrates that ‘user participation and independent audio-visual creations’ threatens to compromise the public value of major broadcasters. I feel as though the increasing commercialization of social media services such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter could very much get in the way of the consumption of public broadcasting. It’s interesting to see how the ABC have gone about combatting this, with their creation of I-View. It’s marketed as a modern (note the I in front of the view), easy to use and has a convenient  broadcasting app and website. The ABC are taking profitable products (T.V shows/films) and exposing it to an audience in a thoroughly accessible, modern medium. Channel 10 who claim to be marketed at people aged 25-54 ought to do that same, in order to reach their target demographic.

Another idea that came to mind when reading this was the thought that the ‘golden age of television’ characterised by shows such as Breaking Bad, True Detective, Game of Thrones may be in response to social media and the rising interact media medium.

This idea correlates to how public television has profited from the abilities of social media to engage new audiences, specifically makers without compromising public value. Fan fiction and fan art has certainly taken off since the rise of social media, because the media makers not only have inspiration (the original T.V show), an audience and a means of distribution.

Kaplan and Heinlen defined social media as platforms that allow for the creation and exchange of user generated content. Back in the day it was public broadcasting that challenged and entertained viewers by involving them in public debates and discussing society. The sheer grandeur and diversity that the platforms of social media create has replaced the role of public broadcast television. This article didn’t condemn public service broadcasting or call it a dead medium, instead it talked about how medium and the correlating institutions went about adapting to the new media climate.

Other Notes……….

• Digital platforms gave users un-impeded and free access to the online distribution of audio-visual and textual content.
• Back in the day public broadcasting copied ideas from commercial broadcasting. A common critique was that they were posting content void of public value.
• The new medium defined citizens as media professionals. It’s interesting how the role of the audience has changed.
• Is the social media the issue or an ally striving for user engagement?
• Initially social media had a poor business model it was just a ‘friends’ site with only banner ads. Now it is entirely commercial. Google, facebook……all went ‘public’ but not towards public broadcasting, they became a public company, they went public on the stock exchange.
• Wikipedia, a space for user generated content is completely, entirely commercial.
• Early 21^st century PSB expanded across online platforms. We can observe this overlap every time we go onto the internet.
• Virtually impossible to keep social Medias intrinsic commercial forces at bay.
• To keep a younger audience public broadcast media have to integrate twitter and YouTube into their set-up. They are forced to confront their issues rather than ignore them.
• Corporately ruled ‘social’ online environment.
• The web 2.0 and digitization was embraced by public broadcasting believing online participation was a key strategy for public broadcasting to regain their significance in the national arenas. Triple J is a station that has done this well. Social Media has given them a new lease of life.
• Public broadcasters in Europe are set guidelines to how they approach and use social media. It is a dangerous public sphere!