Digitisation of media industries: quantity and quality
"But Waldfogel emphasizes another factor that may be even more important, which is based on the idea that the gatekeepers in traditional media industries had imperfect judgment. Year after year, lots of the content that they approved turned out not to be a hit, or in some cases not to be even remotely popular. Thus, it's not just that additional entry into media industries can cater to niche tastes: in a number of cases, the additional entry into media industries is leading the production and distribution.....
This argument further implies that consumers of media are not finding themselves especially overwhelmed by the range of new choices available. Herbert Simon wrote back in 1971: "What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information resources that might consume it." But it turns out that online reviews and social media offer a gatekeepers for new media products--both for specialized niche products and for those aimed at a mass audience--in a way that lets consumers sort through the options. Indeed, many consumers seem to find the sorting process through interactive social media to be fun in itself."
"But Waldfogel emphasizes another factor that may be even more important, which is based on the idea that the gatekeepers in traditional media industries had imperfect judgment. Year after year, lots of the content that they approved turned out not to be a hit, or in some cases not to be even remotely popular. Thus, it's not just that additional entry into media industries can cater to niche tastes: in a number of cases, the additional entry into media industries is leading the production and distribution.....
This argument further implies that consumers of media are not finding themselves especially overwhelmed by the range of new choices available. Herbert Simon wrote back in 1971: "What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information resources that might consume it." But it turns out that online reviews and social media offer a gatekeepers for new media products--both for specialized niche products and for those aimed at a mass audience--in a way that lets consumers sort through the options. Indeed, many consumers seem to find the sorting process through interactive social media to be fun in itself."
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