Germán Arango-Forero

Social Media and New Audiences as a New Challenge for Traditional and New Media Industries

Over the first decade of the twentieth century, the big revolution in information and communications technologies has resulted in many innovations that are having increasingly visible effects on the daily life of media users.

Rethinking Convergence: A New Word to Describe an Old Idea

Convergence seems to be a new concept related to the field of communication. Nevertheless it is important to remark that the idea of convergence is a classic one in order to understand the relationship between humans and communication processes. The present chapter depicts the evolution of convergence as a theoretical framework, from philosophical perspectives such as Simondon’s idea of genesis and McLuhan’s laws of media to the contemporary approaches such as Jenkin’s convergence culture. Instead of thinking of convergence as a contemporary characteristic of communication environment, or merely a technological objectuality, we propose to rethink it as a reloaded term used as a word rather than as an abstract concept in current literature. Since words can develop many meanings, convergence has been used to a variety of aspects in recent years.

Factores que facilitan la generación de ‘engagement’ con programas de televisión: exploración cualitativa desde la identidad del canal, las características del producto y la valoración de las audiencias

This mainly qualitative research project aimed at discovering which of the identity elements of the Channel (Brand) have an impact upon exposition and, thus, upon the development of engagement by the audience. The project had three separate research strands: the corporate identity of the cannel (Brand), a content/textual analysis of its products, and an overview of the general elements in the reception process that are relevant for developing engagement by the audience. Then, the information gathered through these processes was cross-checked, and it led to specific conclusions for the Channel (Brand) studied which can be extended to a certain degree to understand the engagement phenomenon in the Colombian television audience. Each of the three strands of research was undertaken through a suitable technique (in-depth interviews, content/narrative analysis, and focus groups). The results showed that for the contacted audience the more salient elements in the process of engagement are related to the identity displayed by the Channel (Brand) through its product, the expectations of the audience (especially concerned with learning), the topics addressed, the presence of advertisement and the programming criteria.