Instead of keeping both disparate trends in perspective most scholars have concentrated their research efforts on elucidating one or the other (Jenkins 2004).  Robert McChesney (2000) fears the concentration of media ownership will result in fewer voices in policy debates. Cass Sunstein (2002) warns that the inherent fragmentation found on the web will dilute our shared values and common culture. Some, like Nick Gillespie (1999) foresee a ‘culture boom’, while others, like Mark Crispin Miller (2002) envision an American ‘monoculture’. While Grant McCracken (1997) pictures the ‘plenitude’ of a highly generative culture, Todd Gitlin (2003) worries about a ‘media torrent’. Some scholars argue that the media will exist free of gatekeepers and control measures, while others believe potent gatekeepers and vast control measures will stifle media (Jenkins 2004).  While each of these scholars scores partial credit, none seem willing to engage the question of convergence in its totality – “how do we explain the process, content and consequences of media consumption and production when our contemporary media praxis seems to include both at the same time” (Deuze 2007 p 244)?  To answer such a question one must first examination the technological and cultural changes driving convergence.

Adaption involves the older medium attempting to preserve its audience (or find a new one) by developing a different function.  Because it enables the older medium to retain its independence, adaption is considered the most attractive alternative for an older medium facing the final stage of the life cycle. The most common form of adaption entails the older medium making the necessary adjustments to become at the very least a functional equivalent to the newer medium.  Such as when newspapers moved to adding more colors and graphics to their printed pages after the introduction of network television news programs; or the induction of highly specialized reader sections, like science, health, and automotive after cable news stations fragmented the news market.  Older mediums may also adapt by performing a technical upgrade.  While many companies have the potential to provide more features, they typically will not until they are faced with a serious competitive threat (Lessig 2002).  It was not until the telephone industry was faced with the threat of the cable industry’s high-speed cable modem service that they introduced Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology, even though they had the technological potential for many years prior (Wilzig & Cohen 2004). When an older medium has the economic means, adaption may take the form of horizontal integration -- “NBC added television to its radio holdings in the 1930s and 1940s, and more recently it invested in TiVo” (Wilzig & Cohen 2004 p 718).  While horizontal integration does not guarantee older medium survival, it does initiate a new stream of revenue via the newer medium that may be used to ‘subsidize’ the necessary adaption changes of the older medium.

When a functionality improvement or simple technology upgrade is not a viable option, the older medium will seek to converge with the newer medium by merging or incorporating its function with that of the newer medium.  While convergence signals a loss of independence (the older medium is no longer a standalone entity), it does offers the opportunity to significantly extend the life of the general concept embodied by the older medium.  By essentially redefining what it is, the older medium is able to start the life cycle anew, albeit at an increased rate of progression through the life cycle stages.  For instance, by the close of the twentieth century it was generally believed that telephony had outlived its usefulness.  The advent and proliferation of the Internet and personal computers granted individuals all the functionality of a traditional phone in tandem with new benefits such as email and web surfing.  However, the convergence of mobile phones and web technology has provided phone users the opportunity to engage in Internet functioning from their mobile device, which has breathed new life into the telephony industry.  Since there is a high level of familiarity with the functions associated with phones and the Internet, the convergence of the two mediums was able to diffuse quickly because its adaption came with fewer birth and growing pains.  Convergence may also materialize as absorption, a phenomenon Witzig and Cohen (2004) describe as ‘media sublimation’.  In such an instance the older medium actually losses it identity but maintains its basic function within the newer medium.  While the typewriter lost its functionality as a word processing unit, its basic keyboard functioning lives on through computers and hand-held devices with QWERTY thumb keyboards.        

The last option in the final stage of the life cycle is obsolescence.  When neither adaption nor convergence is possible obsolescence will occur; unable to adapt to change the older medium will significantly decline or simply disappear.  Complete disappearance of a medium is quite rare; most obsolete mediums lose their mainstream relevance but maintain a level of existence as a “cult status” item.  In modern times mediums such as the telegraph, typewriter, and hi-fi phonograph emblemize this type of occurrence.  Within the framework of Wilzig and Cohen’s (2004) model obsolescence is closely associated with mediums that are limited technologically and/or have narrow functionality.  Mediums that are of an analog nature are viewed as being particularly limited, as they are incapable of communicating with other mediums (Wilzig & Cohen 2004).  Most modern media is (or can be) digitized, which provides for commonality across mediums, therefore opening the possibility for convergence to occur.  Consequently, newer mediums are far less likely to experience obsolescence.  As newer mediums reach maturity their digital nature will allow them to sustain themselves through convergence.  As evident in the media life cycle presented by Wilzig and Cohen (2004), media convergence is by no means a recent aberration; it is instead a direct and strategic response to technological advances offered by newer forms of media.    In essence, through convergence older mediums are able to avert obsolescence.

Convergence Process

The actual act of media convergence can be seen as simultaneous integration along vertical and horizontal plans.  Vertical integration consist of taking ownership of multiple steps or phases of the production process, while horizontal integration involves attaining a dominate level of ownership at one stage of the production process. Time Warner serves as an exemplary real-world model of how both vertical and horizontal integration works. Through subsidiaries such as Warner Bros. Entertainment, New Line Cinema, Time Warner Cable, HBO, and Turner Broadcasting, Time Warner is able to simultaneously create and distribute media content.  This form of consolidation represents vertical integration.  In relation to horizontal integration, Time Warner’s subsidiaries span across several media channels, including print (Time, Inc.), Internet (AOL), broadcast television (CW Network), and cable television (CNN), which provides the company with considerable media reach.  The combination of vertical and horizontal integration has provided media conglomerates with a heightened ability to control both programming content and distribution (Goolsbee 2007). For instance, Time Warner operates the second largest cable distribution company in the United States, while concurrently operating a substantial number of cable networks through its Turner Networks subsidiary.   As a result Time Warner not only has created a ‘built-in’ audience for its own programming, but also has the ability to limit the distribution of competitive programming.  A consequence of media convergence has been an ever shrinking pool of professional sources of independent programming, and media conglomerates, such as Time Warner yield far greater market power over the independent media sources still in existence.

The same technological advances that have made it possible for media conglomerates to gain unprecedented control and reach have also spurred the proliferation of ‘Do It Yourself’ media sources, which has resulted in the industry composition shifting to mainly consist of a few major media conglomerates and a myriad of independent media sources that are operated by non-professionals. Through the use of technology the distinction between media producer and media consumer has all but been erased.  Futurist Alvin Toffler (1980) was the first to describe this phenomenon in his book The Third Wave, wherein he articulated a blending of consumers and producers.  He described these ‘prosumers’ as being involved in the design and manufacture of products and services, which would lead to goods and services becoming highly personalized (Morasch & Bandulet 2003).  Technology changes such as open source computer coding, home video equipment, and automated teller machines enable ‘prosumers’ to not only fulfill many of their own needs, but to also become an alternative (and unpaid) source of labor for corporations.  Such as when news agencies utilize video footage captured by a local citizen’s camcorder or mobile phone, or when an individual conducts their banking business online or through an ATM rather than with an employed teller.   As technology has continued to progress the concept of the ‘prosumer’ has come to be viewed as not just an individual construct, but also as a collective phenomenon.  The various forms of social media, including blogs (Huffington Post), wikis (Wikipedia), social networking sites (MySpace), video sharing sites (YouTube), and virtual reality sites (Second Life) that have become integral aspects of the online media environment are essentially collectives of ‘prosumers’ seeking and sharing information.  The French theorist Pierre Levy (1997) describes the large–scale gathering, processing, and disseminating of information via cyberspace as ‘collective intelligence’.   Levy (1997) argues that everyday citizens are using the Internet to harness their individual expertise towards shared goals and objectives: “No one knows everything, everyone knows something, all knowledge resides in humanity”. The creation of ‘prosumers’ and ‘collective intelligence’ has significantly altered the way in which individuals view the production and consumption of media.  While technology has provided the fuel for convergence to occur it is this cultural shift that has enabled it to propagate throughout society.

Cultural Change

As ties to traditional forms of community have weakened a new knowledge culture has arisen.  The construct of community is changing, individuals are redefining their worldview, people are no longer bound by physical geography, and the bond (as it was once experienced) among nuclear and extended families is transforming (Jenkins 2004).  However, new ideas regarding community are taking root.  As Jenkins (2004) states:

Within this new framework of community individuals have more choice and control; they get to decide who and what they will be associated with and for how long.  The exchange of information is done on their terms; when, how, and to whom information will be shared with is individualized.  Space and time are no longer perceived as constrains.  A board meeting can be conducted across multiple oceans and time zones, television programming can be viewed on individualized timetables, and media messages can be tailored and delivered to meet the exact specifications of the individual.  Social network sites like Facebook provides individuals with the control measures to personally select interpersonal associations, choose the amount of information that will be exchanged with each affiliation, and determine when information will be sent and received.  The age of “virtual” enterprises has commenced, wherein employees can work distant from one another, yet ever connected and available via modem and telephone. An editorial production firm, for example, can easily employ its writers, editors and art directors at different locations, as long as their computers can communicate to exchange and combine their work.  While traditional theoretical constructs and ideas do not provide all the answers, they do offer some guidance as to how media production and consumption make take place under such a framework. 

Convergence has left scholars and practitioners with few clear answers regarding the future of media.  However, there are theoretical frameworks that may provide some initial understanding of the current and coming effects of convergence.  The theory of selective exposure along with similar constructs, such as cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger 1957), balance theory (Heider 1958), and congruity theory (Osgood and Tannenbaum 1955) all posit that individuals prefer to be exposed to messages that support and confirm their own belief system, and thus will undergo selective exposure, perception, and memory as a means of limiting the effects of discordant messages.  Under selective exposure “individuals select information that is consistent with attitudes and beliefs and ignore or avoid information that is discrepant” (Bryant and Zillmann 2002 p 507).  Selective perception suggests that individuals may process messages in a means that reinforces existing beliefs (Klapper 1960), while selective memory postulates that an individual’s prior expectations and attitudes may influence what is remembered.  The work of Eagly and Chaiken (1993) found that “prior beliefs and cognitions can affect memory by influencing attention and elaboration at the time of encoding and by influencing retrieval and reconstruction of information subsequent to exposure” (Bryant and Zillmann 2002 p 516).  Eagly and Chaiken speculated that while individuals may attend and store information that is both consistent and inconsistent there may be a tendency to favor the retrieval and reconstruction of stored information that is congruent.

If the concepts associated with selective exposure hold true and individuals are inclined to seek and remember information that coincides with their beliefs, and conversely disregard and forget messages that are opposed to their views.  One can begin to imagine a world wherein convergence enables everyone the opportunity to develop a personalized information silo; information deemed congruent with previous beliefs are allowed to enter, while disharmonious messages are filtered out.    Since convergence provides individuals with newfound levels of control, people would be free to only expose themselves to messages that coincide with their currently held belief system.  In this context media sources must do one of two things; one, tailor their message to the perspective audience or two, tailor their audience to the perspective message.  Either way, media sources can no longer afford to simply broadcast and mass market and hope that their message resonates with the audience. 

In order to remain relevant practitioners in the areas of advertising, public relations, direct marketing, interactive communication, sales promotion, and personal selling would are having to significantly redefined how they communicate.  To effectively reach audience members some forms of communication, namely advertising, sales promotion, and public relations, have needed to become more personalized, while other forms, namely direct marketing and personal selling have needed to develop more efficient delivery processes so as to broaden their reach potential.  In many instances interactive communication has provided the means for personalizing that which had historically been too broad (advertising, sales promotion, and public relations), and widening that which had been historically too narrow (direct marketing and personal selling).  Through interactive communication media sources have gained the ability to combine the broad reach of mass communication with the individualization of interpersonal communication, and therefore deliver the mass personalization that individuals in the age of convergence demand.  While still quite in its infancy, manifestations of mass personalization can already be seen.  Advertisers are limiting their utilization of broadcast television in favor of more targeted forms of reaching their audience, such as cable television, specialty magazines, event sponsorships, and in-store advertising (Bianco 2004).  Email marketers have the capability to simultaneous distribute millions of emails that contain highly individualized messages and promotions.  Consumers can opt-in to receive branding and promotional information directly to their mobile devices via text messaging.  Online pop-up and banner advertising can be personalized to correspond with surrounding web page content and a viewer’s geographic location. While these forms of message communication general lack the audience scale of traditional mass marketing channels, they enable media sources the ability to speak directly to audience members that are deemed targetable and thus more apt to be receptive to the communicated message.

Conclusion

While convergence is not a new concept, its impact on society has steadily increased with the rate of technological change.  Two opposing paradigms have risen from the current scholarly work regarding convergence.  On the one hand convergence has resulted in a massive concentration of media power.  Large media companies have gained significant control over the creation and distribution of media content.  However, convergence has also led to the proliferation of ‘prosumers’ and ‘collective intelligence’.  Media producers and media consumers are no longer mutually exclusive.  Everyday citizens now have the power to create and disseminate their own media content as well as control nearly every function concerning the consumption of commercial media, including how, when, and where it will be consumed.  Based on the theoretical framework provided by selective exposure and associated concepts the two disparate constructs established by convergence have, and will continue to generate an environment wherein individuals acting as media consumers will have the privilege of filtering out messages that are not personally compelling and individuals acting as media producers will have the capability of mass personalization, which will permanently alter how advertising, public relations, direct marketing, interactive communication, sales promotion, and personal selling are conducted.