Case Study: Question 4, 5 & 6

4. Is the size of the audience any different now than before the impact of new and digital media (or has the pattern of usage changed)?

It can be argued that the impact of new/digital media has changed the size of the audience and the pattern of usage, as more people are accessing Facebook daily to receive latest information or to interact with others. According to UK Facebook statistics 2014, the largest age demographic associated with Facebook is 25-34 year olds, "with just 26% of all users falling into  this age bracket". This establishes that the size of the audience has changed over the years, as now adults are interacting with Facebook as well as the young demographic. Thus this contrasts to previous years as through traditional forms of media people would of not had the freedom to interact with others globally and generate content. Although Facebook is popular, the size of the audience rapidly decreased last year. According to The Guardian, "Facebook's UK users dropped by 600,000 in December" stated by SocialBakers. Significantly, SocialBakers ranked Facebook as one of the sixth most active user base, with more that million users in December. It could be suggested that the development of new media has made a vital change in the size of the audience, as more people are accessing the social networking site daily. Facebook has made it easier for people to communicate, upload videos, generate content etc which would not have happened through traditional media. Furthermore, there is a mix of age demographic associated with Facebook such as: "25-34 year olds (26%)", "18-24 year olds (23%)" and "35-44 year olds (18%). The 2013 statistics establishes that there has been a decrease in size among the young generation, which is surprising as people would assume that teenagers would be interacting with Facebook more. This could show that there is a decrease among the young generation because they are more likely to interact with new social networking sites and therefore they would be accessing Facebook less. The bar chart below shows the estimated U.S. Facebook users since 2011 among the different age demographic.

Articles:
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jan/14/facebook-loses-uk-users-december
http://www.rosemcgrory.co.uk/2013/01/08/uk-social-media-statistics-for-2013/
http://mashable.com/2014/01/16/teens-leaving-facebook/
http://www.ibtimes.com/facebook-gets-older-demographic-report-shows-3-million-teens-left-social-network-3-years-1543092


5. Who are the primary target audience now and has this changed?  Who was it before and how do you know?  

One could argue that the primary audience for Facebook was individuals between the age demographic of 16-24 year olds, as teenagers are more likely to interact with social networking sites before  the old generation. Significantly, this age range has clearly aged over the years as the primary audience are now individuals between the age demographic of 25-34 year olds. For example, according to the 2013 Facebook UK statistics, the largest group who are using Facebook daily are 25-34 year olds (26%) followed by 18-24 year olds (23%).This could establish that younger people are losing Facebook less because of the emergence of other social networking sites such as Twitter or Instagram.

Quotes:

• “My belief is Facebook is no longer seen as on trend and it is fashionable for teens to say they no longer use it. However our data and recorded behavior show that it is still a key part of their social media experience…. the reality is there is a decline, but it is still no.1 [among teens in 30 out of 32 countries] and account ownership still remains at near full penetration.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2013/12/30/dead-and-buried-heres-whats-really-happening-with-facebook-demographics/

6. How have the audience responded to the changes?  Is there more customer choice?  Is there evidence of a more pluralistic model?  What evidence do you have to support this?

One could argue that audiences have responded to the changes of new/digtal media postively, as through social networking sites they have the freedom to interact globally and generate content.  Facebook has given consumers a wide range of choices through accessing different apps, uploading pictures/videos and changing their own personal information. Researchers at Princeton University compared Facebook to a "infections disease" and stated that "we are slowly  becoming immune  to it's attraction". The fact that people across the world are accessing Facebook establishes that this social networking site has had a impact on individuals' lives. Notably, through Facebook users can accommodate, reject, or accept the content being shown which highlights pluralist values. This establishes that users are capable of manipulating the media, instead of passively accepting the content being shown. To add, pluralists would argue that the audiences are active users as they are no longer conforming to the dominant ideologies. An example of this would be the Arab Spring, as citizens associated with this political conflict used social networking sites such as Facebook to overthrow the government's ideologies in order to achieve democracy. It could be suggested that the Arab Spring shows that the audience are responding to the changes of technology positively,  as it has given them the freedom to express their views instead of being restricted by social institutions. 

This video clip focuses on the negative and positive aspects of Facebook from different perspectives. According to the video, not many people agree with people using Facebook daily as it causes a decline in users social skills because they are spending more time interacting online, rather than socialising outdoors. However, Facebook is still popular as public figures such as "President Barack Obama used the power of Facebook during his 2008 campagine".

Articles:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/04/facebook-10-years-social-networking-site-changed-life