Salaro 1

Student: Jean-Claude

Instructor: Dr. Jatin Sharma

Course: Communication

Due Date: April 28, 2020

The Internet as a Communication Revolution

In today’s modern world, communication has changed considerably. What has

contributed to such a significantly drastic change? There could be endless propositions to

answer this question. I have

tried in this piece of writing to

explore the transformed world

of communication, mass

media and broadcast industry,

and how the internet has

intertwined the traditional

media and merged them all up

into a single network. Until recently, people had to pay for communication, but it seems it’s

free and/or cheaper all across the globe today. The world has turned more advanced and

modern, leading to more progressive ways of communication ("The Internet: Today's

Communication Revolution").

The internet has emerged as a communication revolution. It has transformed and

revolutionized the world of mass communication. With the advent of the internet in the form

of a digital revolution, everything has changed, from the media content, its storage,
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distribution, and use, to the media profession itself. The internet has rapidly transformed mass

communication practices and the media industry as a whole.

It is noteworthy that the internet being the network of networks has merged up the

traditional media into “one”. It has not supplanted the existing conventional media ("United

States Government"). Every medium has its place and a role to play but the ways other media

are used today have changed. I believe all the media currently available to the users

complement each other. In addition to the modern social media and the internet news,

traditionally we count television, radio, newspaper, magazine, etc. as the crucial mass media.

Traditionally, the mass media pursues a model known as “one-to-many”, disregarding

the internet for now. Messages conveyed from a single source are intended to reach the mass

audience. This is a significantly different model from what is called an interpersonal model of

the internet that is more of a “one-to-one”. The internet has evolved as a more interactive

medium in addition to being a mass medium allowing people to choose the information they

want and prefer specific to their needs (Olusola 2007). It has the capability of reaching many

users at a time. In fact, the internet encompasses all at once – one-to-one, one-to-many, and

many-to-one models.

As to writing and print media, the internet has altered the way content is written,

distributed, and credited. Today, social media offers innumerable ways to write your thoughts

about things that matter to you, write e-books, articles, and much more with instant e-

publishing options leading to wide-ranging audiences. Both Scribd and Medium have gained

much popularity in this connection. In addition, e-papers (online newspapers) and online

magazines are on the rise today, thereby enjoying a countless number of audiences available

online, especially the young generation.

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Since the internet has merged the conventional media up into one, the examples of

radios and televisions won’t be out of the scope when discussing the mass media vis-à-vis the

internet. Both the radio and the television are brought to the users directly over the internet in

their smartphones, tablets, or laptops. It is a fact that even the mass media like radio stations

and TV stations rely heavily on the internet for smooth operations and transmissions to the

end-users and audiences. The entertainment industry is not out of the benefits of facilitation

the internet has provided through social media and other advanced channels like

smartphones. A smartphone today has everything in it –– radio, TV, newspaper, reading,

writing, entertainment, computing, and whatnot.

The internet has considerably impacted the traditional mass media. For example, radio

and television are limited in terms of content by the amount of airtime, whereas, the print is

limited and confined to the number of pages. But the internet content has no boundaries

excepting the bandwidth (Olusola 2007). That is the very reason the internet has modernized

the content storage, distribution, and availability to the content consumers. The bandwidth

concerns no longer exist today as a result of the availability of highly advanced technologies.

This is another broad topic of discussion that cannot be discussed in this piece of writing.

The internet being a decentralized source of information, there are no or limited

checks on the information accuracy, leaving the source credibility at a question. When

exposed to sources on TV, radio, and print media including magazines and newspapers,

people normally rely on and recognize the authenticity right away. But the source credibility

over the internet is questionable particularly when the information has been posted

anonymously. So, the problem with the internet only arises when it comes to the credibility of

sources the information is coming from.

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The internet serves as a hybrid medium in terms of message conveyance. Unlike print

media e.g. newspapers which are asynchronous and TV and radio being synchronous media,

the internet is a blend of both asynchronous and synchronous media (Olusola 2007). It further

differentiates when interactivity matters. Television and radio being synchronous media, they

still miss interactivity. But the benefits of the internet are twofold: hybrid medium

(asynchronous and synchronous simultaneously) and interactivity that is achieved through

chatting, video conferencing, and much more. The internet also combines some complex

technological and electronic means to display and distribute the distribution which is not the

case with the conventional mass media.

As I move to conclude this paper, I learned from the research that the internet as a

communication revolution has transformed and modernized everything in the media world.

The way the media profession used to be practiced sometime earlier, it is being done

differently today. The knowledge, expertise, and competencies about the internet technology

underpin job success in the media industry today. For example, an editor at a newspaper

agency no longer carries papers along with him. All (s)he needs is sitting virtually anywhere

and access the content and stories using a networked computer. The same goes true for the

broadcast industry. The deployment of digital cameras, digital videotaping, digital storage, all

have contributed a novel landscape to the broadcast media practices.

In concluding remarks, I would say that the internet has turned the upside down in

everything we do. Communication media have been revolutionized to the extent of the

internet being the preferred medium in daily life communication. Everyday needs like

shopping, ordering a pizza, instant TV, sharing photos and locations with friends, etc. have

been easier than ever. Today keeping up with the news requires a quick click and one can

read local or international papers or watch news channels anywhere, all updated and latest.
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The internet itself has advanced. Earlier it was mere information store maintained and

owned by adept programmers. Today, everyone can contribute information through

uploading, blogging, posting, and the like. The content to a great extent is our own, and we

are the originators, publishers, reviewers (Dentzel, Dentzel, & Tuenti).

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Works Cited

Dentzel, Zaryn, et al. “How the Internet Has Changed Everyday Life.” OpenMind,

www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/articles/internet-changed-everyday-life/.

Oyero, Olusola. "The implications of internet on the media and the practice of mass

communication." International Journal fo Communication 6 (2007): 169-174.

“United States Government.” Lumen,

courses.lumenlearning.com/americangovernment/chapter/the-evolution-of-the-media/.

“The Internet: Today's Communication Revolution.” The Internet: Today's Communication

Revolution | 123 Help Me, www.123helpme.com/preview.asp?id=35221.