Personal Media use and Production Diary

Where are we today with Media?

Media and technology over the last 20 years has dramatically advanced with the growth of scientific knowledge and understanding. In the late 1900’s, the discovery of “radio waves” triggered the development of the radio and invention of the telephone and mobile phone, which currently provide SMS messaging, radio and Internet access.  In 1995 one of the first social media sites, “theglobe.com” was launched, offering individuals the freedom to publish their personal experiences and interests with others online. Since then, Facebook has become one of the world’s most popular social networks, with over 794 million users for 2012.

	13/3	14/3	15/3	16/3	17/3	18/3	19/3	20/3	21/3	22/3	Total
Online News	-	10	-	-	-	-	10	10	-	-	30
Radio	15	-	-	-	10	10	-	-	-	-	35
Uni Readings	30	20	-	-	-	120	60	30	60	30	350
Novel	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	60	60
Facebook	120	120	60	20	-	30	60	30	20	50	510
Blogs	10	-	-	-	-	20	-	-	20	-	50
Twitter	10	-	-	-	-	-	-	10	-	-	20
Emails	30	20	20	10	-	25	40	20	30	15	210
SMS	30	20	30	25	30	30	25	30	35	30	285
Phone Calls	150	40	60	40	30	45	70	80	50	30	595
Skype	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	-	20

The table and pie graph above provide a written and visual illustration of my personal media use and production over a period of ten days. It is clear that my top two most used forms of media are Facebook and Phone Calls. These are some of the simplest forms of communicating with friends and family and are convenient for both parties at any time or place. According to the Journalism survey below, 97% of students own a Facebook account, which demonstrates the high use and popularity of the site. Status updates and posting photos about personal experiences or recent local news on Facebook has become a trendy form of communication, which is why these behaviors have increased. As I am a college resident I always make time to contact family and friends from home, which is why I believe these are my highest media uses.

The media investigation data shows that my two lowest forms of media use are Skype and Twitter. Whilst twitter can be a quick and convenient form of communication, it is difficult to contact people on a personal level, as many people do not own an account. This can be justified in the graph below, as over 67% of Journalism students do not own a Twitter account, in comparison to over 97% having a Facebook account. Furthermore, Skype can be quite inconvenient as it is computer based and both parties are required to be online to communicate.

The pie graph below shows the comparisons between old (red) and new (blue) media usage. It is clear that new media, such as Facebook, SMS and Emailing have been used more frequently then old media, such as Phone calls and Radio. As new media has become more popular among teenagers and young adults, it has expanded to become an everyday essential. New technology such as Smartphones and Tablets enables communication anytime and anywhere cheaply, quickly and conveniently.

The pie graph below displays the comparisons between media (green) and production (blue) usages. It is clear that general media, such as SMS, Skype and Novels have been used more frequently then production media, including Facebook and Emails. This is as, aside from Facebook and emailing, blogs and twitter have had minimal use in comparison as they are less popular and commonly used.

Below is a summary of each media’s average usage:

Online News:             Not often

Radio:                         Not often

Uni Readings:            Frequently

Novel:                         Not often

Facebook:                   Very frequently

Blogs:                          Not often

Twitter:                       Not often

Emails:                        Often

SMS:                            Frequently

Phone Calls:                Very frequently

Skype:                         Not often

Media and technology has dramatically advanced over the last 20 years, where Smartphones enable us to use a majority of the popular communication methods available today. It is evident that I engage with journalism and communication on an everyday basis through the many different methods discussed above. How today’s technology will differ in the years to come remains a mystery!