Pew: 10 New Communications and Media Realities

This Pew Internet & American Life Project presentation by Lee Rainie provides a wealth of important information about 10 new communications and media realities that will profoundly change the world around us. It is interesting and relevant reading. It is a compendium of many things we have discussed on this blog in the past year.

Reality 1 is that we’re surrounded by media and communications tools and the bit-flow around us is as available as the air we breathe.
Reality 2 is that these tools are no longer place-bound. Not only does this untether Americans from their phones, it also means they can carry a lot of computing power in their pockets.
Reality 3 is that use of the internet has become the norm in America and broadband connections are the norm among internet users.
Reality 4 is that multi-tasking is a way of life and we live in a state of “continuous partial attention.”
Reality 5 is that the rise of these two-way technologies has enabled Americans to become their own publishers, movie makers, artists, song creators, and story tellers.
Reality 6 is that the online environment is becoming a privileged information and communications space – and that changes expectations and behavior in the user population. As people gain experience online—and as the online world itself becomes ever-more-useful—people become more serious in the things they do online.
Reality 7 is that the mass market is fragmenting and heavy internet users are different kinds of media consumers – and communicators – from lighter users and non-users.
Reality 8 is that power, influence, and relations between media producers and consumers change in a “prosumer” world.
Reality 9 is that people’s social networks matter more and more in the “Long Tail” world and where personal tagging and taxonomies are commonplace.
Reality 10 is that everything will change even more dramatically in the years to come as advances continue in computing, communication infrastructure, and storage capacity.