MASS MEDIA AS A COMMUNICATION TOOL

The constant social changes that it grew in a global scale and along the last 500 years proved its importance. When it comes to its relatively new digital form, its influence and importance became more obvious but no less difficult to measure. With the appearance of mass media and its growing impact, a need to raise awareness and analyse it is more urgent.

Nowadays, the purpose of social media is not just to inform but also to “conform” our view. With the news flashing out from every corner of the world on the feed of our social networks, a certain dependence is created between the mass media creator and its receiver. According to Antonova (2015), mass communication presumes an interaction, communication among large groups of people, sharing similar interests or even worries. Olshanskiy, mentioned by Antonova (2015), points at the existence of diverse characteristics specific to these audience: heterogeneity, blurred boundaries of group formation, situationality and temporality of its formation, emotional connection and others. Author mentions as well such types as of strong and weak connection, spontaneous and targeted, consistent and inconsistent.

Despite this brief and general characterisation, it is, indeed, difficult to generalize or create any kind of boundaries for its definition. As the time passes by, technology evolve and so does its impact on the audience. As  referred by Antonova (2015), even though the process of watching TV or reading a newspaper seems to be as an individual act, a process when it is all about you, a receiver, and a sender, it is in fact a complex action. It is possible to affirm that by viewing a specific type of a programme, people of different social background can form their own group, a group of viewers connected by this concrete media server. Thus, stereotypes can be created, both to organise and disrupt certain social media groups.

Probably one of the most viewable influence of new digital media is on the way it allows us to interact within the space it creates. Saying so, it is possible to see how Internet connection, specially its possibility of sharing media content on social networks, allow people to express themselves and creates an illusion of “being part” of a big global process. Whenever some decades ago, we still looked at media as something of a mere influence, without any space for our own thoughts. What happens now in an Internet global space is that social groups can an even bigger possibility to be created with no physical limits of time and space. As mentioned by Antonova (2015), mass media can now be more compared to a communication in the way some features allow now to introduce verbal and nonverbal language. “Smileys” are, without any doubt, something that changed the way we interact, helping us to better express our thoughts both on interpersonal conversations and mass media content. The careless language is another aspect of a new kind of social media; we run to write faster than someone else, regarding the orthography.

Important is to refer the three main components of the mass media communication: communicator, the one who sends a message, recipient, the one who receives a message and a message itself. Each element has its unique characteristics and, in contrast to interpersonal communication, the roles of communicator and recipient cannot be switched. In mass media, communicator is a collective figure as the whole process of elaboration of a content is accomplished by many collaborators. However, what is our mind is associated with mass media is a concrete TV presenter. Thus, it is vital a presence of some specific features to guarantee effectiveness of communication.

 External appearance of a TV show host has been growing on its importance, as the likeliness that viewers will relate to the information grows if the presenter looks pleasant to the eye. When it comes to the radio, extra linguistic features are needed, as the focus is all on the voice of a communicator. In this way, both gestures and tone of voice should be carefully analysed to succeed in a communication. Other characteristics that can have influence are gender and age. As G. M Goldhaber affirms, cited by Antonova (2015), charisma is a key element for a newsman, highlighting three types of personalities: hero, antihero and mysterious. On the other hand, Bohomolov presents his own socio-psycohological model of a presenter. According to this author, there are two main factors: the one of competence and credibility, that takes account of his relation to a message, his ability to persuade and transmit honesty; another factor has to do with respect and attractiveness, related to his relation with the audience, the equality of psychological positions.

As much as it is important the way in which the content is being exposed, no less attention should be given to the information itself, specially to its value and sense. When it comes to its value, the focus goes to the connotation of a general meaning, its common significance, so something familiar to a large group of people. On the other hand, sense refers to its idea that is individually constructed, common just to some targeted individuals. Thus, the same text or even the same phrase can be interpreted in different ways by distinct social groups. The role of the social media in this case is to make sure that their message will the shared with a desired meaning.

Looking at social media as a communication tool allows us to reflect about its meaning and pertinence in a contemporary world. As referred by Antonova (2015), among variety of its functions, some groups can be highlighted: social, by making sure that population has an access to information, socio-psychological, referring to an influence that social media has on life of both social groups as well as individuals and the general psychological function that satisfies the need of some concrete individuals. Looking at another way of communication, interpersonal one, we can find several advantages of it. However, we cannot miss its “broken telephone” effect that can mess up information and mislead the audience. Thereby, social media proves to be one of the most important features to share information and spread knowledge by working at its best to deliver a quality communication.

Many other techniques can be used to manipulate public opinion, introduce some new, but possible false ideas. It happens not exclusively on a message being message by social media, but no less at the advertisement. In the news, manipulation mainly affects cognitive structures while in terms of advertisement modification gets into the motivational sphere, the mechanisms of making a choice. That’s why TV adds can be quite dangerous for one’s mental health. For this reasons, the existence of regulations is vital in order to control its influence and reduce it negativity.

Growing on its importance among young people, we should pay more attention on the side effect that information can have on our perception of the world. With time, there is a need to raise awareness about not only the benefits that mass communication is bringing us, but most importantly to prevent new generations from structuring their ideas, thoughts and beliefs based mainly on information provided by social media.

Literature:

1. Antonova, N – Psychology of mass communication. Yurayt, 2015. ISBN 978-5-9916-4455-6.