Media Convergence is Part of Daily Life

Media convergence was out of the ordinary but now its something that is part of our daily lives. Henry Jenkins, author of Convergence Culture says "in the world of media convergence, every important story gets told, every brand gets sold, and every consumer gets courted across multiple media platforms" (Jenkins 3). So how does media convergence work?

Jenkins says that media convergence has a relationship with two other concepts: participatory culture and collective intelligence. Participatory culture means that consumers are seen as active participants interacting with each other instead of being passive spectators. Pierre Levy came up with the term collective intelligence, meaning that everyone knows different pieces of information and that collectively people know a lot. Media convergence depends on consumer participation. Jenkins says that it occurs within consumer's brains and through their social interactions (Jenkins 3).

Technology has made it easier for this convergence to occur. Let's take a look at the example of social networking over the internet. Over the last few years, social networking has grown in popularity and many of use social networking sites on a daily basis. At this point, Facebook is the most popular social networking site and has almost one billion members around the world. People post both personal and other information that they know. Friends and strangers find out about this information and share it with other people. Some of it goes viral. In the age of social networking, it has become a lot easier for people's thoughts and ideas to reach a wider audience. Social networking involves both participatory culture and collective intelligence. As the use of social media has become more common, so has media convergence.

Widespread use of the internet has done a lot for media convergence and has begun to absorb other types of media. For example, for many decades newspaper companies were strictly on paper. Now we can read many of the same articles in online versions of the newspaper. You can watch television shows on the internet. For some people it is no longer necessary to own a television. You can download and listen to music from the internet. You can have a chat with grandma over the internet. A computer, cell phone, or gaming console can be used to participate in these activities.These are devices that people use frequently.

With all of these types of new media, it becomes easier for brands like Star Wars and The Matrix to be spread across multiple platforms. These brands use different elements of both participatory culture and collective intelligence and that knowledge can be shared with friends. There are also many other examples of different brands that have found more success because media convergence is thriving. Media convergence has made it possible for those brands to grow and also for us to be entertained in new ways that involve our participation.

Other types of Media Convergence

Media convergence is not something that is new. It is something that has been happening for a while but not to the extent that it happens now. Back in the early days of film technology, many films were made that were based on books. Films about Sherlock Holmes and Alice In Wonderland are early examples.

Games are also being spread out across multiple media systems. Pokemon went from being a popular card game to a video game. They also put it on television and made children's books using the characters from the game.

Resident Evil began as a survival horror game and has now become a major video game and film franchise. There are now six Resident Evil video games available to play which have branched out to include action games. The Resident Evil film series starring Milla Jovovich has also done well. There have been five films made so far and another has been confirmed. There is also the possibility of a seventh film. One of the producers of the films has said there have been talks about rebooting the franchise.

Music is also something that has spread out across multiple media systems. Musical Artists have not only had musical recordings for sale but they have also been able to make music videos and concert DVDs.  Games like the popular video game franchise Guitar Hero has let musical artists work spread into the video game arena.

Convergence culture is something that has been happening for a while, but it is becoming more common with the increase in new types of technology. Media companies recognize the money that can be made from taking a popular brand and turning it into a new product using another type of media.

Convergence does not only involves the media. Henry Jenkins, author of the book Convergence Culture, explains in this book that media convergence happens when individuals take media into their own hands. The internet has done a lot to make media convergence more common. Jenkins also points out that people lives also flow across multiple media channels (Jenkins 17).  There is a demand from the consumer for more content across multiple media platforms. Media convergence and convergence culture is something that becomes more normal everyday.