One of our readings for this week is Making Public Television Social? Public Service Broadcasting and the Challenges of Social Media by J. Van Dijck and T. Poell. It’s main points are mainly about how television has become more ‘social’ due to the integration of social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, and how this increases audience participation. However, it also argues that the commercialisation attached to social media decreases the value of the public.

I agree to both points made. Quite a lot of TV show these days usually have some form of audience participation, whether it be live or for later use/discussion. For instance, shows like The Voice direct viewers to make comments while the show is airing and using their chosen hashtags in order for their tweet or post to (possibly) be shown on TV. Other shows like Home and Away sometimes have a voting system in relation to something happening in the story. I remember in last year’s season finale, they had people vote as to who committed the crime which the season finale episode had a cliffhanger on. Then they also advertised on TV a mobile app they made to further engage viewers on the story even after the season has already finished.

And yes, although this is all great audience participation, it does devalue the viewers a little bit. They’re not really watching the shows anymore, or consuming it as it should be. It’s sort of like they’re watching the shows just so they can make a post about it online, and also are unaware that they are doing promotions for the show.