Welcome to our modern day world: A place in which every story, every sound, every brand, every image, and every relationship, according to Henry Jenkins, is connected through media.
Long gone are the days when you were merely a spectator, watching big tech companies manage the news. Once an average citizen, now you actively participate in storytelling by adding your expertise to collective intelligence models, producing and consuming content that meet your needs through a multitude of media (maybe even simultaneously), via the Internet, Youtube, social media, and more.
Did you know that leading political figures have come to understand the way you use technology, and thus use it to connect with you? Consider former president Obama. Obama recognized his voters’ use of various mediums to connect with each other and learn about his political stance, so he incorporated platforms like Facebook, Youtube, and mobile texting into his political campaign to engage his voters and share content that could further strengthen his marketability. Essentially, we all have stories to tell, and we’re all motivated to use technology to share them. Despite this wonder though, we have yet to truly understand the patterns and motivations for why you and I interact with the internet in the ways we do.