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Digital Content Creation in 2018:

A Study for Non-Profit Organizations

and Social Actors

- A Mixed Methods Approach To The Experiences of New Media

November 2, 2018
 Simone Staack Hedelund

Media and Communication Studies Master Thesis (2-year), 15 Credits

Supervisor: Bo Reimer

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Acknowledgements

A warm thank you to Bo Reimer for generous guidance throughout the process of this thesis. Your constructive support and attentive encouragement have been valuable tools. Being a student at Malmø University for the last two years has been a fantastic experience, and I have encountered dedicated and talented staff through a fascinating program.

I am deeply appreciative for all the individuals who contributed to this project, by sharing their time and knowledge on the broad subject of media transformation. The knowledge points provided in the interviews have altered my approach to new media.

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Abstract

This study explores the phenomenon of new power as a framework for empowerment for non-profit organizations. The concept is coined by social entrepreneurs Henry Timms and Jeremy Heimans in their book New Power (2018), and the aim is to investigate the effects of new media today through an analysis twelve media actors experiences of working in the creative industries. Through a flexible study based on the paradigm of phenomenology, this thesis researched by examining new power as a 'black box’—an object of human perception—to arrive at new understandings of the workings of media environments today. The qualitative data is backed by a case study of a niche community in the form of digital scrapings that reveal characteristics of spreadable mechanisms in a networked community. Drawing on dominating theories about participatory cultures, convergence media, and mediatization, the study found tendencies of new media leading to the subordination to the power of prevailing media actors. It concludes by considering future implications for the evolution of Web 3.0, where digital platforms will evolve into a co-constitutive digital sphere where media actors and individuals alike will take action in shaping the digital culture of media, as in the cases of leading digital companies BuzzFeed and Reddit.

Keywords:

Media Transformation, Non-profit organization, Web 2.0, Media Transformation, New Media, Participatory Cultures, New Power, Social Mobilization, Digital Promise

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

2

Abstract

3

1. Introduction | Creating Digital Content

7

1.1. Web 2.0 and the Relevance for Non-Profit Organizations 7

1.2. New Power for Media Actors 8

1.3. New Media Effects 9

1.4. Research Questions | Navigating a Changing Media Landscape 10

2. Context | Influential Participants in Networked Communities

12

2.1. The Harvey Weinstein Example 12

2.2. An Expectation to Participate 13

2.3. Influential Participants 14

2.4. The Creative Industries 15

3. Literature Review | New Media Theory

17

3.1. Manovich and the Language of New Media 17

3.2. Three Key Points For New Media Literature 18

3.3. Convergence Culture and Spreadability 19

3.3.1. Spreadability 20

3.3.2. Storytelling Practices 20

3.4. Criticism of the 'Digital Promise’ 22

3.4.1. Online Transparency and Future Prospects 23

3.5. Literature Review Summary 23

4. Theoretical Framework | New Power

25

4.1. Framework Purpose 25

4.2. New Power Values 25

4.2.1. Participatory Cultures 27

4.3. From Making It ‘Stick’ to Making It ‘Spread’ | A.C.E. 27

4.4. The Participation Scale 29

4.5. Theoretical Summary 31

5. Mixed Methods | Empirical Data Representing Experiences Of New Media

33

5.1. Phenomenology and New Power 33

5.1.1. Mixed Methods and Design of Study 34

5.1.2. Purpose of Mixed Methods Study 34

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5.2.1. Semi-Structured Interviews 35

5.2.2. Categories, Coding, and Participants 35

5.2.3. Questions 37

5.2.4. The Role of the Interviewer 38

5.3. Case Study of the Non-Profit Organization MAD 38

5.3.1. Participatory Community, Live Events, and Quantitative Data 39

5.3.2. Digital Scrapings | Quantitative Data 40

5.3.3. Coding 40

5.4. Ethics 41

5.5. Data Integration 42

6. Analysis | Experiences of New Media

43

6.1. Media Production: The Increasing Relevance of Spreadable Mechanisms 43

6.1.1. Taking the Digital Seriously 44

6.1.2. The Tandem Between Live Events and Digital Content 45

6.2. Creating a Sense of Agency: Engaging Niche Communities 46

6.2.1. Participation Scales 47

6.2.2. Producing Content Intended for the Audience 48

6.3. Digital Packaging: Communicating New Power Values 48

6.3.1. Navigating Platforms By Listening to Audiences 49

6.3.2. Co-Creating 50

6.4. Implications of Observations 50

6.5. Quantitative Data | Spreadable Media Analyzed 51

6.5.1. The MAD Community Studied 53

7. Future Perspectives | Digital Content Creation

58

7.1. The Role of Non-Profit Organizations 59

7.2. Future Research of Influencers 59

References

61

Endnotes

64

*Note: Use of Wikipedia for Truth by Consensus 64

Appendix

65

Figures and Images, Appendix A 65

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List of Figures

Figure 1: Instagram profiles with most followers (September 2018) 8 Figure 2: Example of new power language from BuzzFeed article 10 Figure 3: Example of terror organization ISIS’s social media usage 13 Figure 4: Example of creative storytelling | Paul Nicklen 15 Figure 5: Social media platforms listed by most active users (September 2018) 21

Figure 6: Old power values vs. New power values 26

Figure 7: The participation scale 29

Figure 8: Spreadable media in networked communities 30

Figure 9: Social media statistics: Non-profit organization MAD 40

Figure 10: Example of offline media going viral 46

Figure 11: Example of extensible media 53

Figure 12: Social media posts with #MAD6 54

Figure 13: Example of actionable media post 54

Figure 14: Example of extensible media post 55

Figure 15: Example of connected media post 56

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1. Introduction | Creating Digital Content

1.1. Web 2.0 and the Relevance for Non-Profit Organizations

In the contemporary media landscape, digital content is abundant. New types of narratives, storytelling practices, and platform innovations, are continually created and re-created in the context of Web 2.0. It is a term describing the second generation of the world wide web departing from static HTML pages to interactive web experiences (Techopedia; Web 2.0 definition, n.d.), which has altered the way people across the globe communicate and interact. Studies show that media actors working strategically with new media—media native to computers—have been successful in driving attention to their message (Bickart, Fournier & Martin, 2017; Awan, 2017). For non-profit organizations, the new media environment is an exciting period to reach new audiences and gain support using digital tools to create narratives about their mission. One organization that uses the digital to strengthen their visibility is the non-profit National Geographic. Courteney Monroe, leader of their TV division, says:

“The way I think about it is, I compete with anybody that is capturing somebody’s attention, other than National Geographic… I compete with Netflix; I compete with traditional television networks… I compete with anybody who is taking a consumer’s time away from watching National Geographic content” (Johnson, 2018).

To stay relevant for their users, National Geographic is adapting to contemporary media habits throughout the organization. Goldberg elaborates: “We never 'just' produce a magazine story. We have cross-departmental and cross-functional teams meeting to create content… that will tell the story most effectively across platforms” (Johnson, 2018). Their approach to new media has given them a leading position on social platforms, in particular the photo-sharing platform Instagram. Figure 1 contains a list of the most followed profiles on Instagram. Here, the organization is the profile with most followers as a non-famous actor, with more than 92,2 million followers (National Geographic, September 2018). By taking the digital environment seriously, they have become a dominant digital actor with a massive, supportive audience.

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Figure 1: Instagram profiles with most followers (September 2018)

1.2. New Power for Media Actors

According to scholars, the transformation of media is a process of societal mediatization, which ultimately “lead to the subordination of the power of prevailing influential [media] institutions” (Hjarvard, 2008:7). According to the theory, non-profit organizations, like National Geographic, can gain significant influence by embracing new media and social platforms. Social entrepreneurs Henry Timms and Jeremy Heimans argue that activists and social actors play a crucial role in the future, because it “will be a battle for mobilization. Those who flourish will be those best able to channel participatory energy—for the good, the bad, and the trivial. This battle will have big implications for people, organizations, and for the world at large” (2018).

One way to frame the new media landscape, is through the concept of new power coined by Timms and Heimans in New Power (2018). Today, they argue, ordinary people can become empowered through digital platforms: “People around the world have the capacity to make films, friends, or money; to spread hope or spread ideas; to build community or build up movements; to spread misinformation or propagate violence—all on a vastly greater scale and with greater potential impact than a few years ago” (Timms & Heimans, 2018).

A study by Lovejoy and Saxton (2012) reveals that social media is beneficial for nonprofit organizations because media practices help to create and maintain connections, engaging stakeholders, and inviting public audiences to join, converse, and collaborate. Today, many

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non-profit organizations are embracing digital methods to increase participation and support. What can other non-profit organizations learn from experiences of professional media actors?

Academics role is to conduct research that furthers understanding of current issues—knowledge that can benefit actors across sectors, such as media professionals and non-profit workers. While the immediate appeal to join a good cause online seem apparent, the flux of new media related to non-profit organizations calls for investigation. Why should a non-profit compete for attention with Netflix, a global, entertainment platform? Research is needed to make sense of what is happening and how it ultimately affects industries, and society as a whole (Collins, 2010:8). Therefore, this thesis poses the research question:

How can non-profit organizations navigate a new media landscape framed by the new power model?

1.3. New Media Effects

Timms and Heimans explore cases through the concept of new power to portray how the media landscape is empowering actors and social movements. The authors examine contemporary media effects, not as a zero-sum game where digital media is the sole contributor to empowerment, but through interactions between humans, digital resources, and social media (2018:41). The authors argue that new media will affect all media actors in the coming years, and old institutions, e.g., The Economist (founded in 1843), will need to master some of the skills that have made leading digital companies such as BuzzFeed (founded in 2006) or Reddit (founded in 2005) so successful.

When BuzzFeed was created the media establishment considered the company an unserious news outlet. Today, the digital company is a prominent platform with a net worth of 1.5 billion dollars. BuzzFeed has been named one of the ‘Most Innovative Companies’ by Fast Company, who describes BuzzFeed as ‘the envy of the media world’ (Timms & Heimans, 2018:40). What sets the company apart from old institutions is that: “BuzzFeed considers how action by its community can be embedded in the very structure of its communications. It is a philosophy, not a technology, with the core principle that community members are there to do more than consume” (Timms & Heimans, 2018:43).

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Figure 2 demonstrates new power language indicating the value of the community as contributing to content, rather than consuming it. The ‘new’ in new power, is a change in mindsets on how people collectively can build new structures. Philosopher Pierre Lévy argues that “our world is being transformed by participatory knowledge cultures in which people work together to classify, organize, and build information collectively” (Lévy (1997) as cited in Delwiche & Henderson, 2013:3). Participatory knowledge cultures are effecting routines and requirements for media institutions and non-profit organizations alike forcing old media institutions to pay attention to the media transformation taking place.

1.4. Research Questions | Navigating a Changing Media Landscape

I have chosen to study the phenomenon of new power as a concept contributing to the existing theoretical field about new media and participatory cultures. For this thesis, I am interested in exploring issues of empowerment, influencers, communities, and how new media tendencies can prove beneficial for non-profit organizations. In line with the new power framework, Lévy argues that “a new communication space is now accessible, and it is up to us to exploit its most positive potential on an economic, political, cultural, and human level” (Lévy (1997) as cited in Delwiche & Henderson, 2013:8). The research question is designed to support the same positivist approach—to offer non-profit organizations an interpretation for navigating a changing media landscape with the potential to gain impact.

Research Question:

• How can non-profit organizations navigate a media landscape framed by the new power

model?

Supportive Research Questions

• What trends and tools are current media actors using to beneficially drive attention to their

cause?

• From the spreadable media principles; actionable, extensible, and connected, what

characteristic is the most common trait found in the case study of MAD, and how does that support the qualitative data?

I intend to reply to the research question through a mixed methods approach of qualitative and quantitative data. Twelve media actors share their experiences of working in the new media environment through semi-structured interviews. The findings will be supported in a complementary mixed methods data investigation by a case study of digital scrapings resembling a niche, online community practicing digital storytelling. For the wording of the research question, I have used the

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new power model articulated by Timms and Heimans (2018). For the supportive research questions, I define media actors as anyone participating in producing digital content. Lastly, I use the word beneficial with the understanding of actions resulting in favorable conditions for the actor.

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2. Context | Influential Participants in Networked Communities

2.1. The Harvey Weinstein Example

October 5, 2017: The New York Times printed an article about the Hollywood film executive Harvey Weinstein in which dozens of women came forward with allegations against him ranging from sexual harassment to rape. One week after the article was published Weinstein resigned. Actress Alyssa Milano wanted to demonstrate the scale of the problem and took the conversation to Twitter. Here, she encouraged any woman who had experienced sexual harassment to share the hashtag #MeToo. In twenty-four hours half a million people responded to her call (Seales, 2018). Terri Conn was one of them. Early in her career, she was harassed by the director James Toback in New York. Conn began researching online on the #MeToo hashtag together with the tag #JamesToback, and found others whose stories were similar to hers. Together with other victims, she formed a private Twitter group where the women supported each other . They brought their stories to a journalist at the Los Angeles Times, and within days an article was published about Toback. After the release, three hundred women came forward with stories about the director. The Conn campaign logged twelve million Facebook comments, posts, and reactions during the first day (Timms & Heimans, 2018:3).

The amount of people using the hashtag #MeToo, and the communities created because of it, demonstrate how quickly people can mobilize in the era of Web 2.0 because of ideas spreading through networked communities. In the hyperconnected society, the movement #MeToo grew with unprecedented pace, and a considerable number of perpetrators were forced to resign. The perpetrators symbolize old power actors who before the development of digital, participatory cultures would not have lost their jobs, but because of collaborative action online they lost their power. Examples of influential people who have resigned in the wake of #MeToo include UK defense minister Michael Fallon, Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey, Canadian comedian Louis C.K., and celebrity chef and author Mario Batali. So far, it has not been possible to locate a definitive list of people who have resigned; however, one article from the news site Vox claims that since October 2017, 219 people in the U.S. have left their jobs as a direct effect of #MeToo (North et al. 2018). September 25, 2018, Hollywood actor Bill Cosby was the first perpetrator to be sentenced to jail with three to ten years (Allen et al., 2018).

New power is not necessarily a favorable condition; the opposite is found as well. One example hereof is the terror organization ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria): As an organization, they use media to spread strong beliefs that promote reactionary politics and religious fundamentalism. The group actively uses social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, to recruit new

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members by sharing images and streaming professionally filmed violent videos, explicitly targeting young and impressionable people. ISIS tries to persuade with a glamorized and ‘cool’ image online of ISIS fighters as the new rock stars of global cyber jihad (Awan, 2017).

Figure 3: Example of terror organization ISIS’s social media usage

As a phenomenon, new power has many faces—this thesis sets out to create knowledge about the positive and negative effects thereof. In contrast to the empowering promise of new media, Web 2.0 is also referred to as the post-factual era, where fake news circulates in a fast-paced landscape making scientific facts even more critical.

2.2. An Expectation to Participate

Inherent to new power is a change in mindsets bound in participatory cultures:

“It is a shift in people’s norms and beliefs about how the world should work and where they fit in. The more we engage with new power models, the more these norms are shifting. Indeed, what is emerging—most visibly among people under thirty (now more than half the world’s population)—is a new expectation: an inalienable right to participate” (Timms & Heimans, 2018:19).

Social media practices are intertwined with the workings of participatory cultures, defined by media scholar Henry Jenkins as “relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations, and some type of information mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices" (2013:3). For non-profit organizations, the digital age is appealing because of the possibility to reach new audiences—and potential supporters—through the modus of participatory cultures.

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Platforms today are designed for participation, making media systems more than merely the technologies supporting them. The culture behind platforms is what drives change. As Jenkins argues “the growth of networked communication, especially when coupled with the practices of participatory culture, provides a range of new resources and facilitates new interventions for a variety of groups who have long struggled to have their voices heard” (2013:15). The expectation to participate is fostering the perfect conditions for a lush media landscape where participants can be defined as ‘makers’:

"We can think of maker culture as the ‘do-it-ourselves’ mindset… We see this come alive in everything from ‘amateur’ pornography, to people printing shoes in their garages using online templates, to GynePunks, groups of women taking care of their reproductive health via homemade incubators and 3D printable speculums… Makers are less dependent on institutions. They figure out how to avoid the intermediaries.” (Timms & Heimans, 2018:24)

2.3. Influential Participants

Every year, the Swedish institution MedieAkademin publishes a report named the ‘power barometer’ listing the ten most influential media actors. In the 2018 edition, seven out of ten positions were held by civil actors that have gained a following on social media, particularly on the video platform Youtube. The remaining three positions were held by media companies embracing digital transformation (Karlsten, Martner, and Rosenqvist, 2018). The report depicts the transformation of media and the shift in power balances supporting the new power theory. Ordinary people have seized opportunities through social platforms to create personal media channels, and individuals have built media universes that exceed the reach of television channels. In 2010, Swedish Felix Kjellberg created a Youtube account under the name PewdiePie, producing and uploading videos, where he comments on video games. Today, Kjellberg, 28, has a following of 61 million subscribers and is listed the fifth most powerful media actor in Sweden. Youtubers are characterized as influencers because of their potential to influence large audiences. The term ‘influencer’ demonstrates the valuable position users possess in new media. Citizens are inhabiting new roles as participants, makers, and influencers.

A web of fluid careers are made because of the changing media industry, and traditional media careers are taking on new meanings. Consider how a journalist today is required to master new disciplines, such as social platforms, digital design, and multi-media training. An example is how the contemporary photojournalist Paul Nicklen works: he is a contributing photographer for National Geographic and supplies content for their social platforms. Because of Nicklen's fellowship with the

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organization, he as an individual has gained considerable traction with 4,5 million followers. As a journalist, he uses storytelling on his personal channels where he takes his followers on a journey through nature with a mix of images and text to highlight issues of climate change, overfishing, and the increase of plastic in the oceans. In the new media landscape, Nicklen is empowered by his affiliation with National Geographic, and is positioned as an advocate for change departing from his work as a photojournalist. His work and creative storytelling for National Geographic has resulted in Nicklen co-founding his own non-profit organization SeaLegacy (Nicklen & Mittlermeier, 2018). Figure 4: Example of creative storytelling | Paul Nicklen

Technological changes are giving birth to new models, that “thanks to today’s ubiquitous connectivity, people… organize themselves in ways that are geographically boundless, highly distributed and with unprecedented velocity and reach” (Timms & Heimans, 2018:1). The transformation is relevant because it indicates that media actors can grow into influential, powerful voices with the help of digital tools and creative storytelling.

2.4. The Creative Industries

The contemporary media landscape has been born in the interface of the creative economy, defined by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development as the cross-section between creativity, culture, economics, and technology, in a contemporary world dominated by images, sounds, texts, and symbols (Collins, 2010:vii). New media is closely connected to the ‘creative economy’ and the growth of the creative industries, especially in Western countries, but also in Asia where China and India are playing critical roles in the development of media platforms and, technology. In the United Kingdom employment in the creative industries is growing at four times the rate of the entire UK workforce. Almost two million people are employed in the creative industries, with three million jobs in the broader creative economy including creative roles in non-creative organizations (UK Creative Industries, 2017).

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New media endeavors are based on the cross-section between images, sounds, texts, and symbols. Davies and Sigthorsson (2013:10) define the creative industries by three features: “First, they all require some input of human creativity; second, they are vehicles for symbolic messages as carriers of meaning; and third, they contain, at least potentially, some intellectual property that belongs to an individual or a group.”

A cornerstone of new power is the transformation of consumers to makers. Today, anyone can ‘do-it-yourself’ by finding creative solutions online powered by collective knowledge cultures. As a result, civilians are innovating entire industries. Consider for example the GynePunks (Section 2.2), where groups of women, instead of seeking professional help, are tending to their reproductive health through homemade incubators. Creative solutions is a crucial principle for innovation, as Davies & Sigthorsson (2013:13) argue:

“In practice, creativity has a lot to do with the context in which it resides—it is far more than simply the “input” of the creative industries (with innovation as its “output”)… Creativity can be seen as the skill to make useful, enjoyable, or beautiful things or a flair for making interesting things happen.” In this sense, new ways of creativity can sustain audience interest by making useful, enjoyable, or beautiful, digital content (Jenkins et al., 2013). The creative industries and media innovation is broadening the possibilities for making ‘interesting things happen.’ Researchers have found that online knowledge sharing and vivid content draw a higher level of user attention, and initiate “a synergistic escalation of the sense of interactivity” (Yun (2007) as cited in Gao 2016). For non-profit organizations, creative communication can serve as vehicles for symbolic messages with the potential of making ‘interesting things happen,’ like the #MeToo movement managed to overthrow one of the most powerful Hollywood producers by spreading ideas based on the input of human creativity. For the non-profit organizations able to utilize strategic, creative storytelling it might prove beneficial for their cause.


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3. Literature Review | New Media Theory

3.1. Manovich and the Language of New Media

Communication in a hyperconnected world is discussed vividly in media literature. When media and computer technology began to converge, academics debated whether a transformation of media was occurring. Lev Manovich is one of the first scholars to propose that media is taking on new meaning. In The Language of New Media (2001), he argues that new media represents a convergence of two separate histories: media technologies and digital computing. Manovich refers to media technology as media representations translated from analog to digital code and thereby turning the media into numerical data—allowing new media to be measured. He refers to the computer as a device for calculation:

“The two do not imply each other… Since digital media… most often is used in conjunction with computers, the two ideas became conflated. Still, the set of qualities which we attribute to digital media is eclectic, referring to both the idea of digital coding and to the idea of computation. However, the idea of digital by itself can hardly separate new media from the old. What is essential is not that media is translated into a digital code but through this translation it becomes subject to computation" (Manovich, 1999).

Manovich ideas are crucial for the distinction between old and new media, because of the transformation he formulates: when media is put into digital code together with a device for computation, the output is transformed, and the content is innovated. Digital content is therefore subject to endless possibilities of new formats that differ to old media consumption.

New media is still reliant on some old media conventions, e.g., the rectangular frame. Manovich (2001) argues that new media is unique because of technological features such as interfaces and databases which allows users to be addressed individually. To demonstrate the change, consider a family in the 1990s joined in their living room, consuming media through one outlet, a television. Today in the 2010s, the same family might still be joined in the physical space of the living room, but will likely consume media through several devices such as tablets, smartphones, computers, and a television. Each of the individuals can interact with their networked community on the devices. Now, individuals can curate their own space by personal interests with content that, in theory, can be produced by anyone.

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3.2. Three Key Points For New Media Literature

The evolution of new media is essential for the phenomenon of new power. Below are three key developments that have occurred because of the transformation from old to new media:

Shifting from Mass Scaled Production 


In the early stages of the industrialized society, Frankfurt scholars Horkheimer and Adorno (1944), criticized industrial production of culture. They argue, when culture is produced on mass-scale to gain profit for the owners of the industry, rather than using culture as a way of expression, the originality of culture vanishes. In theory, new media represent a possibility to alter the hierarchic monoculture of media production in the sense that accessible digital resources offer individuals the tools to express themselves creatively and produce cultural content. This development can be considered a democratization of media that extends to non-profit organizations. Examples hereof are citizen journalists that collect and share information to report on news affecting their local communities. Or humanitarian workers around the globe who use mapping technologies to monitor elections, coordinate relief efforts and identify looming environmental disasters (Delwiche & Henderson, 2013;3;4).

Strategic Communication and Individual Agency

In the industrial society, a dominating theory about media effects was symbolized by a hypodermic needle. The theory suggests that mass-media can influence a large group of people by uniformly ‘injecting’ appropriated messages designed to control the masses. The framework of new media stands in contrast to the passive portrayal of media users. The shift in focus from the power of the industrial producers towards participants serve a notion of practice “as part of [a] strategic process that influences society and in turn, is influenced by society. [It] allows scholars, rather than studying communication practice as an organizational function, to study how communication practices transform both organizations and societies” (Hallahan et al., 2007:14).

Strategic communication, Hallahan argues, can investigate the tactical level of communication practices and thereby legitimate the work of practices at all levels (2007:14). This approach is crucial because it establishes the participant as a powerful agent that will “influence the agency itself.” Hallahan adds that societal norms, values, and culture will play a role in how agency is executed. Influencers are agents that can and will be used by people with more power to cement that power and individual wealth (2007:16).

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New Social Structures Caused by Internet Communication Technologies

When media technologies and computation converged, the networked society arose. As a term, the networked society characterizes the changes brought about by internet communication technologies, ICT, in which individuals and groups are organized around digital information networks. All members of society have access to high-quality content, and imperative structures and activities become critical for individuals as well as organizations (IGI Disseminator of Knowledge:Networked Society definition, n.d.). With the language of new media, Manovich (2001) argues: “Every citizen can construct her custom lifestyle and “select” her ideology from a large (but not infinite) number of choices. Rather than pushing the same objects/information to large groups, marketing tries to target each separately.”

Clay Shirky supports the perception that ICT’s are changing society and argues that: “Society is not just the product of its individual members; it is also the product of its constituent groups. The aggregate relations among individuals and groups, among individuals within groups, and among groups forms a network of astonishing complexity” (2008:14).

What the developments have in common, is that the contemporary media environment places the agency of the individual as a crucial feature. The distance between idea and production for individuals is continuously shortened which helps to foster dialogue online and contribute to reciprocal relationships between media agents and ordinary people (Falkheimer & Heide, 2014; Kent & Taylor, 2002).

3.3. Convergence Culture and Spreadability

Jenkins introduces his theory on convergence culture (2006) as a new paradigm, and a framework for understanding the evolution of social media practices: “The idea of transmedia storytelling requires us to think about the ways content is produced, delivered, and consumed via different media silos [that] might nevertheless be working together to achieve an accumulative impact” (Jenkins, 2010).

With the theory Jenkins aims to alter the approach of academics toward digital content by encouraging media scholars, and the broader public, to pay attention to the interrelationship between platforms and practices. Jenkins argues that this approach will: “help audiences [to] better understand the shift from a culture shaped by the logics of broadcasting toward one fostering

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greater grassroots participation. [The framework] examines how people are playing a more active role in shaping the flow of media for their own purposes in an increasingly networked culture” (2013:15).

Van Dijck (2012:5) argues that social media channels are built on “human preferences, tastes, desires, and interests, that are profoundly maneuvered by the interface features that direct online behavior, while users’ behavioral metadata in turn help to reconfigure the very algorithms steering the site.” Platforms are constantly redesigned to accommodate user needs in the form of accessibility and participation mechanisms: “These technical innovations make it much easier for [content] to spread” (Jenkins, 2013:24).

3.3.1. Spreadability

What differs in a new media environment, is that value is placed on making ideas spread—a development caused by the overload of content flooding platforms: “In a world of manic participation, awash in information, and when people are no longer satisfied with simply consuming ideas… what makes a winning idea in the 21st Century?” (Timms & Heimans (2018:37).

According to Jenkins (2006; 2010; 2013; 2017), and Timms and Heimans (2018), the answer is held in the concept of spreadability. Storytelling practices are transforming the average user to equal part participant and producer through digital actions such as sharing, commenting, and remixing (Timms & Heimans, 2018:38). This structure forms the basis of spreadable media with the assumption that stories spread through communities as a form of social currency within a networked culture (Jenkins, Ford, & Green, 2013). Spreadability is concerned with the flow of ideas that amplifies on platforms, and Jenkins argues that “spreadability may still include quantitative measures of how frequently and broadly content travels, but it makes important actively listening to the way audiences make media texts circulate through audience interactions” (Jenkins, 2013:20).

3.3.2. Storytelling Practices

Storytelling practices on the most significant social platforms such as Facebook (2,2 billion global, active users), Youtube, (1,9 billion global, active users), and Instagram (1 billion active users) (Statista, 2018), build a structure of convergence culture where digital content is remixed, shared, and spread multiple times between platforms. When audiences repeatedly encounter messages and content on several platforms, the visibility of content increases.

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Figure 5: Social media platforms listed by most active users (September 2018)

Digital storytelling practices “can now encompass a broad range, including both those that are well established through nondigital platforms and those that have been “born digital.” Digital storytelling could include stories generated via digital tools, stories that involve various forms of networked participation or interactivity, stories distributed via digital platforms, or stories consumed on digital platforms. Digital storytelling could include every television show, film, or audio recording, but it could also include media that will be experienced nowhere else than through networked computers” (Jenkins, 2017:1).

Storytelling practices are vital principles for the language of new media because they are meaningful to those who produce and consume them. As Jenkins argues: “Storytelling practices… satisfy our sense of what it means to be a human living in a particular cultural context… We want to use stories in a more social context, as resources for social exchange with people who matter to us... So we may think about storytelling in terms of its cultural/social functions" (2017:6).

A study from the Massachusetts University of Technology shows that “people actually begin changing behavior when [an idea] gets validated by their community, rarely when it has not” (Pentland, 2015).

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It is through the concepts of convergence culture, spreadability, and storytelling practices, the understanding of new media is evolving. Social actors can use spreadability and storytelling practices as a tool to mobilize people in support of their cause (Timms & Heimans, 2018:43).

3.4. Criticism of the 'Digital Promise’

The new media landscape do not pose a complete solution to societal challenges. The Arab Spring in 2011 is an example of both positive and negative implications of networked communication. All over the Middle-East, people revolted against dictators. Citizens used digital platforms to spread ideas and critical content about governing forces and to mobilize people by coordinating demonstrations online. Tahir Square in Cairo became a global symbol for social mobilization when thousands of people in Egypt joined protests promoting democracy. By the end of February 2012, rulers had been forced from power in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen; civil uprisings had erupted in Bahrain and  Syria; major protests had broken out in  Algeria,  Iraq, Jordan,  Kuwait,  Morocco,  Oman, and Sudan; and minor protests had occurred in Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, and Djibouti (*Wikipedia, 2018). During the years that followed the Arab Spring, the political landscape has been unstable in large parts of the Middle-East. In Egypt, the democratically elected president Morsi was forcibly removed in a military coup in 2013. Islamist "state-building" have been rising where "state failure" has taken place—most prominently in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen. In Syria, a seven-year war has ruined the country because dictator Bashar Al-Assad refuses to step down, and in 2018, the war has claimed more than half a million lives and made refugees of millions (McDowall and Roche, 2018). The promise of social media supports means of mobilization; however it does not offer a solution to political stabilization. Authors, such as Malcolm Gladwell is critical of digital mobilization. He argues that online activism makes it so easy to participate that it all ends up being ‘weak ties,’ as opposed to ‘strong ties' activism where people risk their lives and form deep, face-to-face relationships with each other (Gladwell, 2010). Gladwell argues: “it is simply a form of organizing which favors the weak-tie connections that give us access to information over the strong-tie connections that help us persevere in the face of danger. It shifts our energies from organizations that promote strategic and disciplined activity… It makes it easier for activists to express themselves, and harder for that expression to have any impact” (2010).

Seven years after Gladwell denounced online activism, the #MeToo movement formed and is to the present day growing. The movement suggests that the digital sphere can function as a stepping-stone to real-life action where people are forming ‘strong ties’ activism in the form of face-to-face relationships, e.g., the Conn campaign. What began as a private Twitter group resulted in 300

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women coming forward and supporting each other off- and online, putting their careers and livelihoods at stake.

3.4.1. Online Transparency and Future Prospects

A consequence of the amount of digital content is that transparency is compromised. Who is behind a particular message and why? Suzanne Scott is critical of Jenkins’ positivist approach to participatory cultures, arguing that “new media has encouraged a closer more conversational relationship between producers and consumers, but it has also enhanced the fanboy auteur’s ability to survey his audience" (Scott as cited in Delwiche & Henderson, 2013:47). In this context, to survey is to obtain knowledge about users that potentially can be used by corporations and power actors to target specific audience. Scott considers how capitalistic forces are using participatory cultures as a strategic solution by exploiting the fanboy auteur addressing fans as friends rather than consumers (Scott as cited in Delwiche & Henderson, 2013:47).

Considering the long-term implications of the changing media landscape, Evgeny Morozov is critical of the prospects of technology. In his book To Save Everything Click Here (2013), Morozov argues that the tech-world in Silicon Valley strictly works for economic growth:

“In the near future, ‘smart’ technologies and ‘big data’ will allow us to make large-scale and sophisticated interventions in politics, culture, and everyday life. Technology will allow us to solve problems in original ways and create incentives to get more people to do the right thing. But how will such ‘solutionism' affect our society, once deeply political, moral, and irresolvable dilemmas are recast as uncontroversial and easily manageable matters of technological efficiency?” (2013). The critical approach by Morozov is understandable—the implications of new media should not be considered an utopian ‘promise’ or a normative solution to the problems of the world. However, the changes are happening now with incredible speed, and therefore, media transformation must be taken seriously to accommodate it in the best possible way.

3.5. Literature Review Summary

New media literature on how the digital is changing societies offer both positive and negative theories. It testifies that mobilization is plausible with new media tools, and offer valuable explanations on digital utilization for non-profit organizations. As Morozov points to, technology is creating new incentives to get more people to do the right thing. Foreseeing the exact irresolvable dilemmas caused by technology are challenging because of the constant evolution of digital

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platforms and media innovation. Instead, I intend to investigate new power as a current phenomenon to reveal tendencies of new media, and thereby exploit the most positive potential for non-profit organizations to gain impact. As Timms and Heimans (2018) point to, the future will be a battle for mobilization—how do we ensure that the right actors are the ones who will flourish?

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4. Theoretical Framework | New Power

4.1. Framework Purpose

Timms and Heimans are experienced with social mobilization through digital platforms that extend into live action. Henry Timms co-founded #GivingTuesday, a charitable campaign currently enrolled in 150 countries, where people across the globe financially support causes and non-profit organizations, and spread stories about the donations on social platforms. On Instagram alone, more than 500,000 hashtags have been shared with #GivingTuesday, excluding alternated hashtags in foreign languages, such as #DiaDeDoar in Brazil or #ЩедрыйВторник in Russia. Jeremy Heimans co-founded the political movement GetUp! in Australia in 2005, encouraging citizens to communicate with politicians online. Today, GetUp! has more members than all of the political parties in Australia combined (Timms & Heimans, 2018:58). The authors involvement with digital action and entrepreneurship serve as powerful insights into the practical field of new media.

The new power framework offers an explanation to the question on why non-profit organizations should compete with global entertainment platforms, in that they argue future power schemes are held in the battle for mobilization for all actors including non-profit organizations. Digital advancements and social media practices will continue to develop, and the future media landscape will likely force media agents to adapt to new power schemes. To answer the research question—how can non-profit organizations navigate a media landscape defined by the new power model—Timms and Heimans' framework is selected because of the relevance for contemporary digital content creation and social mobilization. New power combines concepts such as convergence culture, spreadable media, social mobilization, and participatory cultures, into one theoretical framework— new power—which allows media tendencies to be analyzed from an overarching perspective. In addition, I have chosen to analyze the empirical data through concepts of new power because the framework extends across the spheres of academia, the media industry, and non-profit organizations.

4.2. New Power Values

What separates the old from the new is a change in mindsets. Old power works like a currency. It is held by few. Once gained, it is guarded, and the powerful have a substantial store to spend. It is closed, inaccessible, and leader-driven. It downloads, and it captures (Timms & Heimans, 2018:19). Old power is exemplified by the industrial society controlled by corporations who designed the

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structures of society, from the work-force to consumers: “To keep the machine humming, ordinary people had critical, but small and standardized roles to play” (Timms & Heimans, 2018:19).

New power operates differently, it is like a current made by many. It is open, participatory, and peer-driven. It uploads, and it distributes. Like water or electricity, it is most forceful when it surges. The goal with new power is not to hoard but channel capabilities.

The distinction between old and new should not be considered in normative terms. Timms and Heimans argue “while these two mindsets often come into conflict, we should not see the values as binary” (2018:20). Instead, the two mindsets should be regarded as a spectrum where actors and organizations can consider where their value set matches.

Figure 6: Old power values vs. New power values

New power values the role of ordinary citizens as critical components in a maker culture. Consider how individuals have built YouTube channels that exceed old media in viewing numbers, like Swedish Kjellberg aka PewdiePie, who runs a media company that ‘broadcasts’ to 61 million subscribers on Youtube. Kjellberg built his career as a digital content creator, producer, and distributor, on platforms where his content surges through networked communities. Online, PewdiePie has found a “thrill of unlimited creativity and immediate validation from an online community” (Timms & Heimans, 2018:19). His career departs from old power values of professionalism—instead Kjellberg is a ‘maker’ who taught himself skills online through collective knowledge on media production, video gaming, and so forth.

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Another example of the shifting societal values are portrayed in the downfall of Weinstein, the example in section 2.1. Corporations built on old power structures, such as the Weinstein Group, are governed with values of discretion and confidentiality by separating the private and public spheres. In the new value mindset, victims of Weinstein challenge the power of large corporations by demanding radical transparency, empowered by the support of online communities. Through collaborative storytelling, self-organizing communities forced one of the most powerful men in Hollywood to resign. Shirky argues that the new forming structures in society are profound, "because they are amplifying or extending our essential social skills, and our characteristic social failings as well” (2008:14).

4.2.1. Participatory Cultures

The connecting factor between technological advancements and new media is participatory cultures characterized by “relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement.” Participatory cultures is associated with strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations, and some type of information mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices” (Jenkins (2007) as cited in Delwiche & Henderson, 2013:3). Participatory cultures are the contributors to digital content that multiply across platforms and “further shape the new power mindset” (Timms & Heimans, 2018:19). They are relevant because they form the social current that surges in the new power framework. Lévy specializes in knowledge cultures, and describes participatory knowledge as transforming our world; people work together to collectively classify, organize, and build information—a phenomenon he characterizes as the emergence of collective intelligence (Levy (1997) as cited in Delwiche & Henderson 2013:3). Participatory cultures should be understood as communities where “members believe their contributions matter, and feel some degree of social connections with one another” (Jenkins (2007) as cited in Delwiche & Henderson 2013).

4.3. From Making It ‘Stick’ to Making It ‘Spread’ | A.C.E.

Spreadable media departs from previous marketing mechanism of ‘making ideas stick.’ (Timms & Heimans, 2018:37). In the old media landscape, sticky media resemble excellent content, created by professionals, and broadcasted by institutions. While great content is crucial for excellent storytelling, the dynamics of new media awash in information will feature the content that is most popular with communities. In networked communities, storytelling practices are understood through three principles: Actionable, Connected, and Extensible, as the guiding principles of how digital content travels.

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Coined by Timms and Heimans (2018) the three principles cover: Actionable

Designed to make the user do something—more than admire, remember and consume. At the core is a call to action, beginning with sharing, but often going further.

Connected

Promotes peer connection with the people users care about or share values with. Connected ideas make users feel part of a like-minded community and set off a network effect that spreads the idea further.

Extensible

Can easily be customized, remixed, and shaped by participants, structured by a standard form that encourages communities to alter and extend it.

A remarkable example of digital content spreading through communities is the Ice Bucket Challenge. In 2014, the non-profit ALS Association, who supports people suffering from the muscle disease ALS, made a video with a simple message that spread around the world. They encouraged everyone to support their cause with a simple gesture: make a video with one individual getting a bucket of ice water thrown at them, then share the video with their social network, and lastly, nominate a friend to do the same. According to The New York Times more than 1.2 million videos were created and shared on Facebook during the period between June 1 and August 13, 2014. At its peak, the challenge generated more than 70,000 tweets per day with hashtags such as #IceBucketChallenge and #ALSIceBucketChallenge (*Wikipedia, 2018).

The Ice Bucket Challenge masters the three A.C.E. principles. The campaign was actionable because the core message of the video asked others to join the global affinity group ALS Association. By encouraging people to contribute to a social cause people became motivated to join the ‘movement' (Timms & Heimans, 2018:38).

It was connected because it allowed interaction on several levels bringing people closer and making them feel part of a like-minded community:

1) To their immediate peer group,

2) By linking ordinary people to famous people taking part in the challenge, e.g., Lady Gaga or LeBron James.

Lastly, the Ice Bucket Challenge was extensible, because the format allowed users to remix the content, and produce videos with a personal touch. Examples are diverse ranging from Star Wars fans dressing up as their favorite characters getting water thrown at them, to a man standing on a

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mountain with a helicopter throwing water at him, or a scuba diver doing the challenge under water. A.C.E. is the mechanism that allows ideas to spread and as the Ice Bucket Challenge shows is a profound tool for mobilization.

In addition to the three principles, it is essential to consider which technological advancements are needed for ideas to spread. Jenkins argues:

“Uses of particular services should not be viewed in isolation but rather in connection, as people embrace a range of technologies based on if and when a particular platform best supports the cultural practices in which they want to engage” (2013:24).

Today, digital campaigns must be tweaked particularly for the platform actors intend to publish content to. In this sense, great content is not sufficient. Instead, the digital packaging that allows content to travel—elements of action, connection, and extension—will enhance the visibility of the story and ensure it does not go unnoticed.

4.4. The Participation Scale

The new power model is built on a participation scale—the higher level of participation integrated into the structure of an organization the more successfully it will perform. The participation scale is explicatory for how participatory cultures flourish.

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Step 1: Sharing Connected Connectors

To grow in engagement the first step is to connect to a broader audience by identifying connected connectors: the immediate peer groups connected to the core audience. Noma, a fine-dining restaurant located in Copenhagen, demonstrates this approach by linking their work-force as connected connectors with their niche community. Their core audience is represented by the guests dining at the restaurant, who share content with peer groups. Noma extends their storytelling by including stories of the noma ‘family,’ on their social media channels. As a result, the digital content becomes a vehicle for symbolic messages about their philosophy connected to the humans behind the restaurant. Consider a mother to a chef from Australia—she might not be passionate about the food served at noma, a restaurant in Copenhagen, per se, but she will feel passionately for her daughter. Potentially, she will engage with the digital content created by noma and share the post that is depicting her daughter. In the mother’s peer group, others will likely feel passionately for the Australian noma chef. The new peers will then follow noma on social platforms, not because of the food they serve, but because of the human connection. Approaching participants of a core community as connected connectors create a shared identity that will strengthen community values and help spread the story about an organization.

Figure 8: Spreadable media in networked communities

Step 2: Shaping

Building a New Power Brand

The second step claims that new power organizations must build participation structures that allow users to rise in the participation scale. Users are motivated to remix and adapt content by shaping the format of a platform. Reddit is a great example of an online platform that invites users to take part in shaping their community:

“Users share links on Reddit that they find elsewhere on the internet. Users then ‘upvote’ their favorite content (or downvote what they do not like), essentially curating their own website with almost no editorial interference… On the platform, more than 21 million votes are cast every day. To

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put that in context, one week of voting on Reddit chalks up more votes than a U.S. Presidential election. It is a huge engine of participation.” (Timms & Heimans, 2018:83).

Step 3: Crowd Funding Lowering the Barrier

Organizations welcome user needs by lowering barriers and increase accessibility. Accessible mechanisms invite users to join a cause which benefits the experience of participating. Lowering barriers is understood as eliminating obstacles between an organization and a crowd: reaching out to crowds for support, either in the form of financial crowdfunding or knowledge-funding and thereby elevating the user to a ‘co-founder.’ It is a symbolic gesture that transforms the donor into a stakeholder for the organization and in return serve the person a sense of agency.

Step 4: Producing

Moving people up the participation scale

In the new power model, there are three types of participants: owners, super-participants, and participants. Timms and Heimans argue that the dynamics of a community occur in the interaction between the three types of participants. In the participation scale, the owners of an organization are the ones who facilitate platforms, content production, and events. Super-participants add value to the organization through roles as community managers, and event organizers. The participants are users engaging with the content of an organization, and participating in events. Building structures that allow users to become super-participants who take part in producing and curating content will shift the core values to opt-in decision making based on open source collaboration.

Step 5: Co-Owning Achieving Ownership

The final step on the participation scale is to participate as a co-owner. It separates new power organizations from old corporations by emphasizing networked governance. The digital encyclopedia Wikipedia is co-owned by the contributors, which serve as a motivator for the community maintaining the platform to excel. Ownership is the ultimate level of agency.

4.5. Theoretical Summary

The structure of a new power brand deviates from a model of consumption and is based on an organization's efforts to accommodate user needs. As Jenkins argues: "the companies that will thrive over the long term in a ‘spreadable media’ landscape are those that listen to, care about, and

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ultimately aim to speak to the needs and wants of their audiences as crucially as they do their own business goals” (2013:13).

The theoretical framework offers three concepts to frame the new media landscape: new power values, spreadable media in the form of A.C.E., and the participation scale. These concepts are vehicles for symbolic messages in the creative industries that depart from old power values of exclusivity, competition, and authority. Instead, it welcomes users to connect by bringing them closer to other people and make them feel part of a like-minded community. In this sense, it increases the strategic communication of organizations, by considering media practices “as part of [a] strategic process that influences society and in turn, is influenced by society” (Hallahan et al., 2017:16). Therefore, new power as a framework allows investigating how communication practices are transforming both organizations and societies.

The role of individuals as participants contributing with creative storytelling can be considered a development of new media effects, where creativity is the “skill to make useful, enjoyable, or interesting things happen” (Davies & Sigthorsson, 2013:13.) How societal norms, values, and culture are changing in the light of new power, is playing a role in how agency is executed, where “influencers are agents that can and will be used by people with more power to cement that power and individual wealth” (Hallahan et. al, 2007:16).

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5. Mixed Methods | Empirical Data Representing Experiences Of

New Media

5.1. Phenomenology and New Power

The research of this study has been chosen to create knowledge of the fast-changing media landscape and how this ultimately affects industries, and society as a whole (Collins, 2010:8). From the outset of the theoretical framework, tendencies such as the participation scale, suggest that new media tools can result in empowerment. New power as a phenomenon has occurred during a relatively short period during the evolution from Web 1.0 to 2.0. Because of the innovative nature of technology, the future effects of new media is challenging to predict (Manovich, 2001; Jenkins, 2006; 20013; 2017; Scott: 2012; Morozov: 2013). It is likely that new media and participatory cultures will develop into Web 3.0 built on entire new formats. Therefore, I have chosen to study contemporary experiences of new media, to investigate the potential for non-profit organizations to increase impact.

While statistics show extreme reach and activity for new media actors (hence the 21 million votes in one week on Reddit; Figure 1 portraying most followed Instagram profiles in 2018), I am interested in learning more about the experience of working with new media, the potential for broader outreach, and the positive and negative implications hereof. The phenomenological paradigm allows data to be analyzed “in response to the social constructionist observation that our meanings are shaped by enculturation, and calls for us to ‘get back to the things themselves’; to arrive at new, more immediate meanings by allowing for a direct experience of the objects of our perception” (Collins, 2010:32).

The nature of this project is built on a phenomenological philosophy to “accept the social constructionist understanding of the interrelationship between human beings and objects in the world” (Collins, 2010:32). Phenomenology can be applied to research by examining 'black boxes' as an object of human perception arriving at new understandings, by understanding current ones of new media (Topological Media Lab, n.d.). Inherent to the paradigm is the study of series of ideas or movements that have developed in different directions across time, such as the power of participatory cultures.

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5.1.1. Mixed Methods and Design of Study

I have used mixed methods to analyze empirical data of media tendencies for “breadth and depth of understanding and coronation” (Johnson (2007) as cited in Schoonenboom & Johnson, 2017:108). Johnson and Schoonenboom argue that through a mixed methods research design the end result entails: “heightened knowledge and validity. The design as a product should be sufficient in quality to achieve various validities legitimation, which refers to the mixed methods study meeting the relevant combination or set of quantitative and qualitative validities in each research study” (2017:110). For this study, there are two entry points of data that represent multiple angles of knowledge around new media. Qualitative data serve a top-down approach in the form of semi-structured interviews with media professionals experienced with digital content creation. Knowledge extracted from the interviews serve as inductive data, as Morse and Niehaus (2009) refer to as exploration-and-description. Oppositely, the quantitative data serve as knowledge points from a niche community as a bottom-up approach of the types of digital content that spreads in the current media environment. In this sense, the quantitative data is deductive and works as a testing-and-prediction process.

5.1.2. Purpose of Mixed Methods Study

Greene et al. (1989) argue there are five reasons to conduct a mixed methods study. For this thesis researching through multiple data entry points serve a complementary purpose, that “seeks elaboration, enhancement, illustration, clarification of the results from one method with the results from the other method (Henderson, 2017:110). New power is not a spectrum that can be measured; it is a concept that can be studied to gain relevant knowledge on how to navigate the current media landscape and future implications of media transformations. By designing the study from two different outlets, the data complement each other and deepens the knowledge surrounding the black box of the digital promise and empowerment.

Lastly, the study design is a mixed methods approach with one core component, and one complementary component. Although this approach by Morse and Niehaus (2009) has been challenged with the argument that mixed methods should be equal in relevance and data, I find that in the complementary purpose qualitative data can be supplemented with quantitative data in a sequential study, where the quantitative data follow the qualitative data. By doing so, the multiple data points offer knowledge on new media from several levels: the media actors working in the creative industries, and members of a niche community sharing digital content on social media.

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5.2. Qualitative Interviews and External Validity

Twelve media actors have been selected to share their experiences of working in the new media landscape. The participants have been identified through one primary criterion: they are currently enrolled in work within the creative (media) industries. This criterion secures that the observations from the interviews are relevant for digital content creation in 2018. The external validity is established through a range of principles of diversity for the selected participants. Participants are gender balanced, with nearly half of the participants being female, 42%, and 58% male. Ages span fifteen years with the oldest participant being 41 and the youngest 26 to ensure the interviews cover a broad specter of experiences, including professionals experienced with old media formats, and a younger generation native to the digital landscape. The participants are employed in a broad range of positions which support an extensive understanding of new media, making the data mirror general tendencies from several entries of the media industry. Examples of participants include Anders Bruus, working as a TV and documentary film editor, Lars Hinnerskov, who works as an editor of a digital food magazine, Anna Skytte, who works as an application Consultant for IBM Innovation Center, Bella Napier, a non-profit worker at Sydney policy lab, Sebastian Gabe, a project manager of a Snapchat channel, and Arve Krognes, a community manager for one of the world’s best restaurants.

The range of media professions show “the environment where creativity is practiced, involving organizational structures, workflow, people and their associated networks, all of which may have an impact on creativity” (Collins, 2010:8).

5.2.1. Semi-Structured Interviews

Semi-structured interviews will allow the research to explore particular themes by not limiting respondents to a set of predetermined answers, e.g., a questionnaire (Evaluation Tool Box: Semi-structured interviews definition, n.d.), and will help participants to elaborate on their experiences working with new media. Each participant is asked similar questions, tweaked to their profession. Lastly, the choice of semi-structured interviews admits respondents to discuss and raise issues that would have gone unnoticed in a fixed interview structure.

5.2.2. Categories, Coding, and Participants

Participants are divided into three groups categorized by tendencies from three distinctive outlets: production, communities, and digital packaging. By dividing the participants into groups, the categories provide a structure that serves as a helpful guideline in the analysis of media and the new

Figure

Figure 1:    Instagram profiles with most followers (September 2018)
Figure 3:    Example of terror organization ISIS’s social media usage
Figure 4:     Example of creative storytelling | Paul Nicklen
Figure 5:     Social media platforms listed by most active users (September 2018)
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References

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