Audience and Social Media

This weeks reading in Keywords focused on how the concept of “audience” has transformed over time as technology has improved and the industry has evolved. An audience used to simply account for the people that were in the direct audience of a performance, or watching a program only when it aires. In this time, producers were in control of how and when consumers viewed media. Now, consumers are in control and hold far more power over when and how they watch television. From resources like OnDemand to Hulu and Netflix, television programs are essentially available whenever and where ever you want to watch. This idea of accessibility is even furthered by the use of social media and practices like life tweeting. This allows consumers to be even more involved with their favorite programs, and access others opinions at all times.

For this video I wanted to look at one of my favorite shows, “America’s Got Talent.” Each week on the show during the results episode, the show has something called the Dunkin Save. At the beginning of the episode, the bottom three contestants for that week are announced. Audience members are then given the remaining time of the episode to vote for one act to save by using Twitter. This facet of the program encompasses a number of ideas. First of all, it allows for consumers to connect and engage with each other via social media based on who they are voting for. Additionally, it provides the consumer to feel like they are apart of the live program. This concept has been successful on the show because consumers have a desire to feel more involved with the programs they watch. They want to feel like they are closely involved with the program, and this aspect gives consumers a live way to facilitate the outcome of the show.