Critically evaluate the consequences of the consumers increased Essay

Critically evaluate the consequences of the consumers increased expectation that news should be free for content producers, advertisers and consumers - Essay Example Appurtenant to the digital revolution has been the radicalisation of communication modes, with the inception of chat rooms, email, instant messaging and blogs. In turn these novel communication modes have reshaped social interaction in the contemporary social framework within the continuous movement towards global homogenous cultural paradigms and international business networks (Volmer & Precourt, 2008). Indeed, Volmer and Precourt (2008) refer to the comments of a 2007 interview with Nike vice president Trevor Edwards, who commented that â€Å"gone are the days of one shoe, one advertising campaign, Now you’ve got to engage consumers on every level† (In Vomer & Precourt, 2008, p.2). A prime example of one of these levels is the immediacy of the social network Twitter, which enables instantaneous connectivity with consumers. As such, Comm et al highlight that â€Å"businesses can harness the immediacy of Twitter to innovate and build relationships like never before† (2009, p.xiv). However, whilst the social networking phenomenon clearly enables businesses a much wider level of access to potential customers; the increase in networking and peer to peer information dissemination has led to an increased expectation that news and content should be free (Shimp, 2008; Gupta, 2009). Furthermore, the increase in consumer control has led to consumers wanting more information before purchasing and the availability of free information has led to an expectation of free content (Volmer & Precourt, 2008). Accordingly, the increased consumer control and expectation of certain content being free clearly impacts the traditional method of advertising and marketing as a result of changes in consumer expectation. For example, business leader and Squidoo creator Seth Godin refers to the fact that consumers are more likely to be