As our society grows more technological reliant, mobile development is on the rise. The use of apps and other electronic means to read or watch news developments or keep up with the latest trends has drastically changed the relationship between audiences and producers of the content.

Prior to the mass popularity of cell phones, tablets, laptops, etc. those keeping up with news really only had the options of television or radio. There wasn’t such a broad variety of news for them to interact with. Now the amount of news we have is extremely overwhelming and it is impossible to keep up with all the latest stories.

Audiences also have more control over what kind of content they want to expose themselves to. If something doesn’t interest them they simply do not “follow” the prominent figures they do not wish to keep up with on social media, watch certain television stations or avoid certain news publications. There are also so many more people out there in the world and on social media that they can follow and try to interact with. Before all of the apps and social media platforms, people kind of all “worshipped” the same people who were producing content because that was all they knew.

Producers also are able to know more about what types of news they can produce to get the most engagement. Therefore, they work to alter the content in favor of what they think the majority of audiences would enjoy. They also have more options of how to get their work out into the world. They could use a variety of means such as websites, social media accounts like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram or traditional print media.  

In some ways these mobile developments have greatly benefited producers and audiences. However, they have also added more stress and a feeling of not being able to keep up. It really is an interesting phenomenon.

I am a bit on the fence about it personally because I am happy to have plenty of different means to view information, but do feel caught up in the midst of it all. It also makes me wonder about my future working in the media. Mobile development will impact me on a daily basis and will affect my decisions about how I want to distribute the content I create.

-BL