webfact Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 Online media are reshaping civilisation By The Nation Behold the ‘pro-sumers’, both producing and consuming news and entertainment – whose influence is steadily spreading Thailand’s consumer behaviour when it comes to news and similar content has changed significantly in just a few years, triggering the rapid decline of traditional media and the rise of online and social media. There are now more than 50 million Thais using Facebook, 42 million on the Line app and millions more regularly checking their Twitter and Instagram feeds and watching YouTube – in a country whose total population is 69 million. These Internet media platforms have profoundly changed the way Thais get their news and other information. Facebook, for example, has become a virtual city in itself, a vast community whose “central business district” bustles with communications between and among individuals and groups, with shopping sprees, political debate and all sorts of casual amusement. Twitter is even more popular as a platform for staying alert to what’s “trending” in the world – meaning what people online are chatting about most. Nakarin Wanakijpaibul of the Standard, a Thai online platform, notes that Instagram has increasingly become the online “lifestyle magazine” of choice among the youngest social networkers. It’s where you find the kind of content previously featured in all those printed magazines that the disruptive digital technology drove out of business. Television – once the cutting-edge technology for every home and blamed for undermining the appeal of cinemas and drive-ins – has been utterly displaced by YouTube and online video-streaming services. YouTube is the new Channel 7 or Channel 3 for young audiences who are quite happy watching full-length movies on a hand-held phone. Their parents were glued to TV screens and their grandparents frequented movie-houses with giant screens. The scale of the spectacle might have shrunk, but clearly not the level of viewers’ enjoyment. The digital media platforms have ushered in a new era of information, most of it delivered via smartphones and TV sets enabled for streaming. For entertainment, Netflix and the like are muscling aside cable TV and other older-generation systems. Overall, traditional media are on the way out, resulting in job losses and business closures, as consumers continue to be lured by every fresh burst of hi-tech experiences to sample and enjoy. The so-called platform economy, coupled with near-universal use of smartphones and other gadgets, has facilitated the rise of “pro-sumers” – consumers who are also producers of content, including breaking news. The gatekeeper role of conventional media has significantly diminished in this new media landscape as a result, with the unfortunate side effects of increased fake news and biased reporting. We can expect that to become even more common unless the new technology itself adopts a system for checking facts and verifying content on social media. Already politicians are taking full advantage of online platforms to not just spread their message but also manipulate opinion by making inaccurate claims. Thailand’s political parties are all over the social media as the general election draws nearer, though we have yet to hear of any overt lying online. There is as yet no efficient model for tackling fake news in the political context, even as it profoundly shapes events taking place in the West. It will take immense and consistent effort on the part of civil society to introduce and maintain a check-and-balance mechanism regarding content accuracy, and platform owners will have to intensify their own policing. All “netizens”, younger and older, have a responsibility to ensure that the emerging digital society is not misled or confused. Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30362490 -- © Copyright The Nation 2019-01-18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaiwrath Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 2 minutes ago, webfact said: Online media are reshaping civilisation And making the B.I.B do some work, once netizens highlight certain crimes ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mok199 Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 With denial, blame and deflection as your Credo , running a country into the ground is easy...until the air becomes toxic ,this is the game changer for Thailand and the end result of this lawless behaiour. forget road carnage ( the unavoidable collateral damage of fun wreckless video game style driving) corruption,poor education , filthy beaches and water ....air quality gets attention Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAG Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 Exactly the same points about the "dangers" inherent in new forms of media: uncontrolled access to receive and produce, using media to put over political messages, political bias, "fake news", and loss of jobs in obsolete mediums could have been and were made when verbal announcements were superceded by posters, posters by printed media, print by radio and TV, terrestrial TV by cable and satellite, and now with the arrival of various internet platforms. They all boil down to one thing - loss of control over the information which reaches the population. When your power relies on telling the people what is happening and what they must do and think, rather than responding to what the people think and want you to do, that is a serious problem. It is also much, much more difficult to close down internet based mediums than it is to shut newspapers, TV and radio stations. On a personal note - I am delighted that the Media Studies Degree has finally come in handy! ???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebell Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 1 hour ago, Thaiwrath said: And making the B.I.B do some work, once netizens highlight certain crimes ! Well said, that man. Often only publicity will stir the bandits-in-brown from their A/C offices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kannot Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Im sure the nation of tittle tattle story makers has found its true forte in life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullie Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Online media certainly changed my world. I can now just use the phone to get a nice Thai student to my hotel room instead of having to go to those horrible beer-bars first.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyphodb Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 And the powers that be hate it, all over the world as it's far more difficult for them to control what people hear and think. I myself think that this is a good thing because control of the narrative has been in the hands of too few and getting fewer people for far too long... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreasyFingers Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 My civilization has not changed as I do not use social media. Wonder if it safe to now go out into the big, bad world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oziex1 Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 It certainly is, some aspects may be negative but when it offers a window to the world that inspires a young Saudi woman to get out of her country of repression and has the knock on effect of possibly forcing Thai authorities to review how they treat asylum seekers then I give it the thumbs up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcnx Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Welcome to 2019. I appreciate the update but this is very old news. The world saw the true power of social media during the Arab Spring back in 2010 when it was used to topple governments and dictators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitman Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 It also forces the Thai shops to show prices when selling online....oh boy they must hate that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrTuner Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Yes it is and Mike Judge directed an excellent documentary about the effects: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krataiboy Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 5 hours ago, dcnx said: Welcome to 2019. I appreciate the update but this is very old news. The world saw the true power of social media during the Arab Spring back in 2010 when it was used to topple governments and dictators. And look how well that turned out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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