The Magazine Industry Blog

Web 2.0 & Technological convergence

In 2005, Time Magazine named ‘You’ as its ‘Person of the Year’. 2005 was the year of Web 2.0 when the balance of power on the internet changed from media producers delivering content to users participating in the production of content.

Web 1.0	Web 2.0
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QUESTION: What is the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0?

What is technological convergence?

Previously, analogue technology meant that the phone was separate to the TV which was separate to the radio. They all worked on different frequencies so you ended up with lots of gadgets for different things. Some people still live this way (can you believe it?)

Digital technologies work on the binary system (0’s and 1’s) so they all, in theory, speak the same language. This is what makes it possible to download movies onto your mobile phone and watch TV over the internet.

And that’s technological convergence – different technological systems (or gadgets) have been developed to perform similar tasks.

We have the technology, now the media has to adapt to reflect these changes and the demands of modern audiences. Consumers these days don’t just want to ‘lean back’ and receive whatever TV or radio or magazines send their way. They want to interact with their media sources, in their own time, not when a TV programme is scheduled, necessarily, or when a copy of a magazine is issued. They also want to help create it and participate within it.