Texts

WEB 2.0, SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE NEW PARADIGM OF INFORMATION MEDIA

Through an analysis of relevant literature, this paper examines important aspects of the new paradigm of information media, originating from the changes of social communication in general, prompted by information-communication revolution. The Web 2.0 environment, with social media at its front, brought forth a higher level of interactivity in the information exchange – information media i.e. journalistic reporting. This interactivity facilitates thorough changes which must be taken into account so as to enable production and distribution of optimal media content. The paper discusses in detail the Web 2.0 environment and its specific features, against the more traditional media environment. The paper further reports on important observations pertaining to social media and their social and communicational specificities, as well as the means by which their interactive nature influences exchange of information. The new role of public in media communication is also discussed in detail, as well as the rise of citizen journalism as a consequence of previously mentioned interactivity of the digital environment. Hereafter follows a discussion on the new habits in the media consumption, with an emphasis on incidental consumption as a product of the social media culture. Finally, the paper examines the biggest ethical issues of the modern information media in the Web 2.0 conditions. Namely, it discusses information segregation (echo chambers) and fake news, and what media organizations and social media platforms can do to contain this, socially unfavorable, behavior and minimize, if not completely eliminate, their detrimental influence.

ONLINE PUBLIC RELATIONS

In this paper a research was conducted on the topic of public relations in the digital era, especially the online one. Characteristics and peculiarities of public relations, the potential of the world wide web for E-PR and challenges and advantages of the digital communication are the main topics of the thesis. A short review of well chosen theoretical works that define and deliberate online public relations from a critical point of view is also presented here. The paper analyzes the potential of the web in dialogues, public debates and interactions, as well as the potential of blogs and social networks concerning public relations in the digital XXI century. The conclusion contains a critical reflection of the position, role and the potential of the online PR.

PARADIGM OF PARTICIPATIVITY IN THE CONTEMPORARY MEDIA CONTEXT

This paper contemplates the paradigm of participativity in the context of contemporary media, since an analysis of the modern media and information-communication context is necessary for acquiring a more wholesome insight into new paradigms of participativity and participative praxis. The papers gives a short overview of key notions, phenomena and processes significant to the context of digital media: convergence and digitalization of the media, multitasking, media as participants in creating messages, expansion of social media. Also, the paper points to certain similarities and differences between participative practices before and after the Internet, to the influence of information-communication technologies on the media, and especially on a possibility as a unique feature of the modern media context: the possibility to use digital technologies and the media to include and engage in the media and technology sphere, in an autonomous way, lead by our own individual interests. The media which enable participation of the users and create possibilities for nurturing and development of participative culture, are donominated in this paper as participatory media. Basic notions of their key characteristics are given, of significance to the subject of this paper.

MEDIA LITERACY AS A NECESSARY CONDITION FOR UNDERSTANDING NEW MEDIA

Digital media technologies allow new communication channels through which one can quickly find necessary information on the one hand, and on the other hand upload information of relevance. Both download and upload are quickly and easily available to everyone worldwide. It is interesting to compare the Internet with an “information buffet” from which the user takes as much information as necessary and whenever necessary. Such information may be used for the purpose of informing, educating, entertaining or business when there is no other efficient and quicker way. People and markets are linked. From the time in which the information and news were in the possession of a small number of people, we have arrived at the stage when the information is in the hands of most. We are now in the era of social media which helped create a most diverse content and exchange between a large number of Internet users, replacing the one-to-many process with a many-to-many process. Two-thirds of our waking state is lived with the media or the media in combination with another activity, whereby the media people gradually influence our perception of the meaning of life. Researchers warn of the impact of media depending on the degree of media growth and the need to create an institutional basis for introduction of media education into regular education programs.