Selective Consumption

McLuhan's tetrad gives us a formula to analyze new forms of media. Rosenbaum used this tetrad to look at the ways in which the internet has changed the way we get news.

When I think about how I get my news, it's rarely from a print newspaper (getting the New York Times for free in the Brimhall is the only exception to me actually reading a physical paper). I usually get my news on Twitter.

This is just a screenshot of some of the news on my Twitter feed. I follow the New York Times, the Associated Press, CNN and other news sources. But I also follow sites like The Onion and Buzzfeed. With social media, I can pick and choose what kinds of things I want in my feed and whether or not I'm going to stop read them.

One thing Rosenbaum pointed out about blogs is that with blogs everyone has a news outlet. Anyone can start a blog and anyone can subscribe to blogs. With blogs, news is not only at your fingertips, but it is also in your hands and under your control.

Blogs offer a wide variety of topics. You can find extremely niche blogs about anything. I currently do a bit of freelance PR, where I build media lists for clients and find bloggers who might be willing to write about certain products.

I recently built a list for a client who was selling all-natural, Australian beef jerky. I was amazed at how many travel/adventure/camping/hiking blogs I was able to find with bloggers who might be willing to post about the product.

This is just one example of a blog that would be a good fit for the product. The breadth of topics for blogs is limitless, and there seems to be a blog for just about everything.

Visiting the tetrad, the internet gives people news faster, they are proactive about the news they consume and it requires active participation. Going beyond the internet as a source of news, we could look at social media and how it has impacted society.

Enhance: Connectivity, shared opinion, information transaction
Obselete: Physical interaction, formal conversation, accountability
Retrieve: Participation
Reverse: Responsibility, the way we build relationships

Rosenbaum concludes by saying because the internet has changed the way we get our news, marketers need to target their efforts so we will perceive their messages. Although this is the case, I think it applies to more than just marketers.

We all need to be aware of these changes in how we communicate. If we can understand how people are getting their news and how they are communicating with one another, we can start more conversations. We can build more connections and use those connections to improve our interactions and relationships as a whole.