The People Formerly Known as The Audience
- Thu, October 28 2010
- Filed under: Social networking and web 2.0
As I’ve blogged before, “audience” is an antiquated word in a time where people no longer passively consume information. I’ve been trying to figure out what to call an audience (which is not an audience at all) in this day and age.
Clay Shirky’s highly recommended new book, Cognitive Surplus, cites NYU’s Jay Rosen’s phrase: “The People Formerly Known as the Audience.” I like it.
Here’s what I think about The People Formerly Known as the Audience…
1. Don’t want to listen to us, they want to speak.
2. Don’t want to passively receive information; they want to interact.
3. Don’t want to consume content; they want to create it.
We should think of ourselves not as mere nonprofit marketing professionals but as listeners, engagers and participants. The more WE are the audience to THEM, the better.
PS: READ Clay’s book, it is very important. Prepare for a paradigm shift.
Comments
Fantastic post, this is something i’ve been considering myself. I think of internet posting as writing on a wall in an empty room, leaving, and then returning after others have entered the room and written their responses. It’s all so detached nowadays.
Great post, you’ve really hit the nail on the head. I must say, I tend to think of “The People Formerly Known as the Audience” as “The Forum,” since instead of imparting information we are so often enticing and monitoring feedback. Ideas presented to “The Forum” can easily be ignored, rejected, applauded, repurposed, drowned out by other noise, etc, so it is best to approach it in a way that acknowledges its desires and its power. It is certainly a brave new world….
Great post in indeed, Katya. Have you come up with a substitute phrase?
I’m continually searching for the right one and tend to fall back on audience as folks don’t get it when I use “network” or “base.”
What have you tried that resonates?
Good question, Nancy. I don’t have a great answer other than TPFKATA. I like network better than base, because base, like audience, is a word about their purpose to us.