New Media revolution

The 20th of April witnessed a worldwide 40^th anniversary celebration of what is up to date considered one of mankind’s greatest escapades, the moon walk. This “small step for man, and giant leap for mankind,” has proved to be a great step indeed. 40 years down the line effects of the moon landing and exploration into orbit has begun to elucidate immense results. The establishment of space satellites has greatly boosted and enhanced the communication systems of mankind since the first satellite was launched into space in 1957.

The over 500 satellites in earth’s orbit today have facilitated the establishment of the internet and in turn Twitter and Facebook. Social media sites such as these have taken advantage of the technological advancements in the global communication sector. A move from mere peer to peer communication to one of mass communication has been realised by most of these social networking and media sites.

On the 11^th of July US president Barack Obama made use of the social media and networking sites Facebook and Twitter to broadcast his message of good governance and economic progress in Ghana. The speech was streamed live on the Whitehouse website, Facebook and Twitter accounts. South African based mobile social network and instant messenger service Mxit also got into the action as users sent messages and comments to President Obama.

In an effort to better understand the mindset of the African youth, President Obama asked young people across the African continent to engage with him on MXit. Users of the service were asked to send a message to Obama and he would respond to the messages within 24hours.

Growth and Importance of New Media

This endeavour by the US president has illustrated the growth and importance of new media in modern day society. Issues of instant communication between distant parties have become the sort out objective of modern day communication. Although main stream media through television and radio can achieve this form of communication, social media and networking sites go a step further by providing a two way communication platform.

Having received the live Obama stream on Facebook and Twitter, viewers could post comments and engage in debates with other people distant to them. Even if the questions are not personally answered by the president himself direct communication between the president’s office and the ordinary citizen has been achieved, something that was perceived as being near to impossible 10 years ago.

Revolution around the corner

So, as the world celebrates the 40^th anniversary of what could have been seen as impossible 100 years ago people should not ignore the communication advancements that are being made in the new media sector. The evolution of social media sites into major mass communication channels can potentially be the doorway to effective communication and information distribution within the next 10 years.

After all, contrary to popular belief, Africa, one of the most under developed continents in the world is not completely absent from the Internet. In fact, the continent at large is undergoing a connectivity revolution. Although many people might not have access to computers, many are accessing the internet via their mobile phones.  The average is 30.4% and there are 280 million subscribers in total, making Africa the fastest growing mobile market in the world. So as long as internet accessibility is becoming global, the growth and dominance of new media technologies is inevitable.