Consumption of Media
Technology has been evolving at a break neck pace in the last decade. It seems like media and news was consumed by paper only yesterday. Then television came along shifting the population to consume media through that platform; And now the internet has taken hold, a way for anyone to access the news they want. Most of the younger population now consume media through their smartphone with social media platforms such as Facebook or YouTube (BBC news 2016). Nowadays media is not just available for users to see on the internet, it is also targeted to audiences depending on many factors in order to maintain high engagement levels with users (BBC news 2016).
There is a consistent rapid trend for media to always jump to the next best way to present information. And now VR is the newest platform, short for virtual reality. Recently VR has taken a step forward in popularity due to companies releasing there own affordable product for early adopters. VR presents itself as a new form of media that is completely unique to all the other forms. This is due to the immersive nature of the medium, users are not distracted by anything but the media in the headset. This presents itself as a limitless opportunity for media and communication, anything you imagine is possible with VR (Taylor James 2016).
VR has already proved a success in video games, with HTC and Sony offering a headset for PC and PlayStation. YouTube has also started a 360 VR experience sub category of videos.
I believe VR to be the future in story telling and media, the ability to allow the user to see and move within a virtual space is captivating; and the possibilities for creativity is limitless. With big companies like Google and Facebook investing heavily in VR, I can see VR kicking off in the near future as one of the main ways for people to consume media.
References
Jane Wakefield 2016, Social media ‘outstrips TV’ as news source for young people, BBC, viewed 24 March 2017, <http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-36528256>
Mark Smith 2016, So you think you chose to read this article?, BBC, viewed 24 March 2017, <http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36837824>
Taylor James 2016, Virtual Reality: A new media?, Taylor James Intergrated Productions, viewed 24 March 2017, <http://www.taylorjames.com/blog/virtual-reality>