Stay Where Your Audience Is
For 48 hours I tracked my personal media consumption habits. But what I learned was how much I’m influenced by others.
Social media is the main channel for me to read news and share information. In the 48-hour period, most of the news I read and shared came from WeChat or Weibo, where the most popular buzzes are generated and heat up in China. Issues discussed in the news are also highly related to hot topics on social media, i.e. the luxury wedding of the famous Taiwanese singer Jay Chou. Reading the constantly updated social media stream, I passed the homepage of traditional media outlets and made comments directly to journalists, writers and photographers who created the content. This reflects that content publishers are losing value with the increase of information distribution channels. As freelance tech analyst Ben Thompson said in an article, “value is moving towards the individual creators of content, and towards the platforms that allow for discovery and/or distribution of that content and away from publishers and media companies of various kinds.”
Secondly, I preferred reading and sharing content catering to my circle on social media exclusively. Everyone has his or her identity on social media, not categorized by demographic characteristics but attitudinal and behavioral ones. For example, I am a female who likes the color pink and cute animals. I am interested in film, fashion and food. My circle of friends on social media consists of people who have similar identities. Media consumers are more likely to read and share content that make them feel that they are insiders of a specific circle. For me, sharing articles about Japanese animation shows that I know a lot of things about Japan, which many people may find unfamiliar with. Thus, media publishers should find out who are their hardcore fans and provide exclusive content to them.
Thirdly, smartphone and laptop are the main devices I used to read news. I consumed different content on the two devices. When I used my phone, I picked up concise content with pictures or videos, such as Maroon 5’s video Sugar. I spent less time, about 2–5 minutes on every piece of news on my phone, compared with 10 to 30 minutes on my laptop. Moreover, I selected content that is more academic and serious, such as The Wall Street Journal to read on my laptop. From a media publisher’s perspective, it is beneficial to differentiate content and design on different devices. Mobile devices require more attractive headlines, better reading experience, and interactive sections for readers to comment and share. In contrast, when reading on laptops, people welcome professional reporting skills and depth of thought.
Lastly, as an international student, to a lesser extent, I used Facebook, Twitter and other mainstream social media platforms in the world. This might result from Internet restrictions in China. However, Chinese people, especially millennials are eager to join the mainstream social media community and know what people in other counties are talking about. This reflects the lack of media needs of the huge consumer base in China. Therefore, for American media, don’t forget to keep eyes on the reading and sharing styles of media consumers in other countries. In my opinion, cooperation with Chinese social media platforms might be a good idea. Content publishers such as Buzzfeed should also consider about developing a Chinese version of their popular websites.
The 48-hour media consumption diary is like a window through which we can take a look at the significance and loopholes of the media industry. However, it will never be a mistake to stay where your audience is and satisfy their needs.
