Multimedia; the convergence of the new media

Multimedia comes from multiple and media; therefore, multimedia is basically more media combined as in the example of Facebook stated above.

New media is basically the tools, services and applications that have paved way for two-way communication. People interacting with each other in the global village, people having the opportunity to also create contents whiles consuming other creator’s contents and people being able to give feedbacks and opinions to mass media is all because of the new media. On a social networking site like Facebook, there are varieties of contents that are accessible there including photos, videos, and texts. These are all forms of media contents yet a single platform has the capacity to show all of these contents. This is what is termed as multimedia.

Multimedia comes from multiple and media; therefore, multimedia is basically more media combined as in the example of Facebook stated above. Multimedia is an application which uses a collection of multiple media sources – e.g.- text, graphics, images, sound/audio, and animations. Almost all the new media platforms make use of multimedia. People are more interested in varieties of contents as compared single content format. Text publishing platforms have even integrated images or photos despite the platform being only about text publishing. Even LinkedIn has images and sometimes videos. Multimedia combines different media for text, sound, and images into one presentation to create a more enriched and entertaining message. For the richness of a content, this is why multimedia is very necessary.

Multimedia is everywhere in the media. At the cinema, movies are in video formats yet there is audio and subtitles (texts) attached to the movies to make it more comprehensive and interesting. On the televisions, there are combination of graphics, audios, videos, images and texts all in a single content being broadcasted by the television. That is the power and essence of multimedia in the new media era. Playing video games comprises of motion graphics, videos, 3D, animations, audio and texts. There is no way a rich content can boast with just one or two media formats; it has to be more for the richness of the content.

In media, there are two basic types of multimedia; static multimedia and dynamic multimedia. Static as the name implies is the type of multimedia that does not change with time, it remains as it is for the whole of its lifetime. Examples are newspapers and magazines. Once produced, there is no way the contents can be changed and it remains in state till it fades away. Dynamic multimedia also talks of the multimedia that changes with time and it is updatable. An example is social media where users are able to edit contents and even delete them anytime they want to; Facebook for instance has a feature that allows users to edit their post and this editing reflects immediately. Multimedia makes use of mediums such as texts, animations, motion graphics, audios, videos and hypertexts.

How do communicators benefit from multimedia in the course of advertising? Advertising is always aimed to persuade and media for instance, advertisement contents need to be attractive in order to persuade the viewer to purchase or buy a product. This aim is achieved through the combination of multiple mediums like texts, videos, graphics, hypertexts, photos and audios. Magazine designers for instance try all their best to make magazines attractive. They sometimes add 3D texts, catchy images and attractive graphics; with that, customers are always eager to purchase such magazines.

In journalism, multimedia is very appropriate as stories covered are sometimes shown with videos, audios and in order to make it more meaningful. Imagine a documentary by a journalist without any text and voice over or audio, will it make meaning? Of course no because the journalist has to include other media formats in order to share a meaning across.

Using multimedia is quite beneficial. Multimedia makes contents more attractive and interactive as well. It also makes contents more interesting as there is combination of different media formats which makes the content rich. Despite having advantages, multimedia also has some quite challenges for its users. Since it is a combination of different media formats, it is quite expensive and not every content creator can afford it. It also needs special expertise which sometimes is very expensive to acquire. Combining a lot of media formats in videos for instance leads to more space coverage as the size of the content become bigger.

Multimedia is sometimes complicated but when used appropriately, it is sure to deliver a positive feedback and more returns for content creators.

Image by pixabay.com

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