Different perspectives
The consumer determines what is considered new where new media is concerned. More importantly, consumers are the users and the producers of media and therefore are able to determine what is considered new by comparing it to old media and enhancing existing media with new features that meet particular user’s needs. Furthermore, this is done by using knowledge that we have from existing media and where it is not meeting our needs we are able to add to it or create what is referred to as new media. For example, take two online social networking websites, Myspace and Facebook, for awhile I used Myspace until I set up an account with Facebook, and now I rarely use Myspace because Facebook has the features that suit my particular and specific needs. However, I do still have an account with Myspace and go on there once in awhile and I do notice the difference between the two sites. In addition, I have noticed the Myspace has added features that Facebook already had. They did this to compete with various social networking sites that exist, and likewise I think each social networking site builds on the other to try to create a more innovative approach to connecting with people online. Bottom line is that if something remains the same, consumers are more than likely to lose interest and seek out something that does have a sense of newness, and it might be similar but with different features, a different look etc.
Considerably, new media represents something different to everyone. From the internet to television, video games, everyone shares a different perspective, different goals, interests which explains why new media represents something different to everyone. In other words, what people consider new depends on what their interests are and so on. For example, I have Xbox, yes, the first one they came out with, and I rarely ever played it therefore when Xbox 360 came out I wouldn’t be able to consider it “new media” because it wasn’t something that interested me, and I wasn’t looking for upgrades, I didn’t have particular or specific needs that weren’t being met with the first Xbox. Moreover, even if I did play Xbox 360, I wouldn’t even be able to compare it to the one I do have. But when they came out with the Nintendo Wii, it was the new and exciting game console…everyone had to have one, they were impossible to get because stores only carried a certain number of them at a time. When I heard about the Nintendo Wii, I remembered playing Nintendo (the very first one) when I was a kid and how much fun I had. I loved Super Mario Bros. thus when I saw Super Mario Bros. games in connection with the Wii, I had to have one too! So yes, I had a bit of nostalgia and I went out and managed to get a Wii game but not because I was suddenly into video games, it was because I connected Super Mario bros. with a part of being a kid, having fun, and being around my cousins and family. And for some reason I thought I could have that with my kids, my family.
