Active audience theories

What is an 'active audience' theory?

Active audience theory suggests that audiences are not passive recipients of media content but rather actively engage with it, using their own social, cultural, and personal backgrounds to create their own interpretations and understandings.

The theory suggests that audience members bring their own experiences, beliefs, and values to the interpretation of media messages, and that this interpretation is influenced by factors such as their social context, individual characteristics, and the media themselves.

Today we’re looking at active audience theories:

These theories highlight the power of audiences in the production and distribution of online news.

This audience power was enabled by digital convergence; the merging of different media platforms into one.

4.2 Active audience theory.mp4

Task: Understanding the theories

Watch my video explaining and evaluating the two active audience theories.
Read the short summary on slides 6 and 7.
Complete the worksheet by:
1. explaining the theory in detail
2. and considering at least four evaluative (supporting arguments and drawbacks) points for these two theories.

web version of active theory worksheet

KEY THEORY - SHIRKY - END OF AUDIENCE

Audience behaviour has changed due to the internet and the ability for audiences to create their own content at home.
This new audience doesn’t just consume media, but also produces it – creating the term ‘prosumer’.
User-generated content creates emotional connection between people who care about something. This can generate a cognitive surplus (time audiences have to create their own content).
There is no such thing as passive audience, there are different types of audiences, some whom are creating content, some synthesising content and some consuming content.

Supporting arguments

The potentially revolutionary effect of online media on news and the threat this represents to traditional models of news gathering and distribution suggesting that small independent news outlets run by audiences may be more prominent and more ‘trustworthy’ in the future due to audiences preferring audience-to-audience media.
Draws attention to how online newspapers increasingly rely on participatory media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to disseminate news as print circulation continues to fall.
Citizen journalism is very important in modern age in disseminating news to audiences - The Sun and Daily Mail as sensationalist ‘clickbait’ style news websites heavily rely upon audience videos.

Counter-arguments

Online newspapers have not embraced a model where user-generated content is checked before it gets released suggesting that audience intelligence and citizen journalism may evoke more fake news content.
Top newspaper brands rely on their authority as a news brand to sell themselves and extend their branding online to include as many audiences as possible so this theory is less applicable as some newspaper brands are not fully at the stage of fully user-generated content.
It is optimistic to consider that audiences are more powerful inews production than powerful conglomerates like DMGT or News UK.

Another way of looking at Shirky

A prosumer uses an online media platform to create their own user-generated content. For example, think about the Bella Poarch TikTok of Sophie Aspins 'M to the B' song.
The content becomes viral and creates an emotional connection. In Bella Poarch's case, it was very famous and went viral very quickly!
Audiences users engage in duets or collaborations with other creators, remixing and building upon existing content - this is cognitive surplus. Some of these you can see below!

KEY THEORY - JENKINS - PARTICPATORY CULTURE

Prosumer - an audience member who creates the media and consumes it.

Citizen Journalism - the process when audiences play an active role in news production by creating their own news.

Fans enjoy media texts so much that they create content based upon the text and form communities around it, which has been made even more possible due to the internet.
Modern media texts offer more than just a receptive viewing. Texts engage audiences and promote discussion and active engagement.
Fans act as ‘textual poachers’ – taking elements from media texts to create their own texts.
Fan can be involved in both the production and distribution of media text thus engaging in ‘participatory culture’ and as such texts become more ‘spreadable’.

Supporting arguments

Big conglomerates like DMGT often rely on citizen journalism to substitute their own reporting as audience-to-audience media is becoming more popular in digital age.
Audiences on online newspaper websites and social media are far more active in sharing their opinions, which is allowed by ‘New Media’, allowing them to be actively involved in textual meaning making.

Counter-arguments

The theory is less applicable to newspapers due to the ethos of professional journalism - newspapers have a charter to fulfil in delivering trustworthy and informative news stories.
Only really applicable to online news and print news production is centralised without audience input.
Audience’s collective intelligence, such as citizen journalism can not always be verified which may lead to a rise in fake news.
It is optimistic to consider that audiences are more powerful in influencing values and ideologies than powerful conglomerates like DMGT or News UK.

Task: How useful are active audience theories in relation to Mail Online and The Guardian websites?

Go to https://www.theguardian.com/uk

Create a GOOGLE SLIDES presentation:

Screenshot elements of the website that show how appropriate active audience theories are to The Guardian website.
Use my examples on the next couple of slides to guide your annotations.
Focus on:
- Alternate ways of consuming the story (such as through video)
- The ‘take-part’ and ‘opinion’ sections of the website
- Option to share via social media (what sort of audience does this cater for?)
- Pop-ups linking to digital convergence (ie. The Guardian app)
- Options for Below The Line comments

Example 1

Audience participation is encouraged in the form of social media engagement - audiences can post their opinions of the stories using ‘below the line’ comment thus being active and engaging in cognitive surplus.

Example 2

‘Don’t Miss’ section imitates clickbait style and are soft-news relevant to social context, attracting a C2DE demographic - allows audiences actively discern what they want to read, demonstrating an active audience.

Example 3

Each article enables sharing of the story both as a link through a traditional message or through, again, social media. The shares are displayed showing the popularity of the story. This shows audiences engaging in participatory culture and making news more popular.

Example 4

Below-the-line comments featured at the bottom of the article (below the line comments), open to all audiences to share their own personal views. (over 1000 comments, highlights strong audience interaction.)

Example 5

Audiences can be actively engaged in citizen journalism by sharing their story through the ‘story tip-off’ feature on MailOnline. This element of active engagement also means that they are generating cognitive surplus and being prosumers - consuming and producing media content.

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