Radio and TV are invaluable sources of entertainment. From people hearing about the football games to people watching NCIS and X Factor, these forms of media have been entertaining audiences for decades. The future, though, looks to be even bigger with the full utilization of the most important medium in human history – the Internet.
The Internet is a truly wondrous invention. People may take it for granted, but the Internet has opened a new frontier. It serves as a source collect, compile and share information, but it can also be used create a new form of entertainment. This entertainment is not created by a multi-million dollar corporation such as Warner Bros. or FOX, but created by an average user with an imagination and proper digital technologies.
I remember when first using the Internet around when I was a child. Back then, the Internet was mostly used for homework, though there were times you could go to one of the colorful flash sites hosted by Nickelodeon or another company where those Shockwave flash games were. I’m fairly certain I wasn’t alone in this case. In this period in time, it seems the emphasis was that content was solely supposed to come from larger corporations.
The evolution would come, though, with the advent of the most popular video-sharing website on the Internet today: YouTube. With the coming of YouTube, growth of amateur content is rising. No longer are companies the only one making their own content for distribution. Users are doing the same now when they make their own user-generated content. No longer are people, like you and I, getting their entertainment in the format of radio and television which has long been dominated by respective industries. This new digital frontier is allowing different forms of entertainment to come from people making remixes of music to people who make their own, original content such as special effects artist Freddie “freddiew” Wong or the comedic workings of Smosh. These are just two examples of people who make their own work, and achieve millions of watchers in the process.
With this new frontier, companies are taking advantage of it as well. Sites like http://www.hulu.com have access to a wide range of modern-day television shows and select movies for free streaming. However, the Internet must be embraced as an equal media. Unlike radio and television, where giant companies have dominated them for centuries, the Internet is an open game. Anyone with the proper technology should have the right to create an original work that can be enjoyed on a level that is equal to television or radio. The Internet is, after all, a never-ending landscape. Endless content waits to be created, and companies aren’t the only ones making it anymore.
June 7, 2012
Entertainment, Opinion