Context over content

                              As seen on TV (https://imgflip.com/i/soofm) 

An ad showed in a local magazine will deliver a different message compared to the same message delivered to your phone. Not better, not worse but different. For millennials, Youtube, facebook, snapchat and other social media networks have become the platform for entertainment, advice and even fashion inspiration. Kuttainen, V. (2017) shared on how transformations in technology cause transformations in culture, where the evolution started from spoken word, to manuscripts, to print and now onto the age electronic. Despite these mediums still relevant and used, it affects how information should be delivered to be eventually effective. Products with ‘As see on TV’ are not as appealing as they were a few years ago. People consume information different and therefore this indirectly affects how ads, campaigns including awareness campaign are received and absorbed. The need to change how information is communicated to consumers gives meaning to the classic phrase ‘the medium is the message’.

The phrase ‘the medium is the message’ was introduced by Marshall McLuhan and collegues (1967). This referred to how the medium uses influences how the message is perceived or interpreted. The phrase further highlights the importance of context over the context. An article on the ‘what no to do when advertising your products’ on LinkedIn will convey a different message compared to the same information in a textbook.

Where this generation seems to be focussing on the next technology model rather than communication, it is vital we understand how such context will affect the content. I liked a movement page about Human Trafficking called A21 Campaign on Fb a few years ago. Despite being interested in eradicating modern slavery and enjoy reading stories about survivors, I hardly ever visited the page. Well, unless I happened to see it on my timeline. However, after becoming more active in the last few weeks on LinkedIn, I decided to follow the founder of A21 Christine Caine as well as the A21 Campaign. Funnily enough, I have read more articles shared in those few weeks compared to the number of articles I read in years on Facebook.

This is what needs to be understood, unlike LinkedIn, facebook is a social network where it focusses on social bonds of family and friends. Whereas LinkedIn although primarily aims to work as an online resume, it allows its members to join groups or online communities where they share common interests. I got engaged more on LinkedIn A21 campaign because they were likeminded people and I came to such groups with a specific interest. Furthermore, LinkedIn gives a platform engage in open discussions, get ideas, and while you are at it someone is probably watching you and about to hand you the best job.

Technology changes theway we communicate influencing how information is delivered and received. Despite digital channels being great marketing tools or as mediums for communication, to an extend most of them only serve a temporary influence. To convey messages, it’s thus imperative to understand which context is better used in to create a longer lasting influence.

References

Kuttainen, V. (2017). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, week 5 slides [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved fromhttps://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/

McLuhan, M., & Fiore, Q. (1967). The medium is the message. New York, 123, 126-128.