New Media fosters creativity by becoming a tool for that creativity and also by supplying users with access to other tools. It also permits them to interactive more deeply and innovatively with already established media. In her article User-generated visibility: Secondary gatekeeping in a shared media space, Jane B Singer takes an analytical look at this shift towards user-generated content in relation to the experience of media consumption, writing that "in selecting items for re-dissemination, users make editorial judgments about what may be of interest to an audience made up of other users. This new ‘user-generated visibility’ is not the same as a reporter’s concentrated effort to gather fresh information" (Singer 57). Singer makes an easily observable point. YouTube is overflowing with user created reviews and critiques of everything from energy shakes to blockbuster films, many of which have viewerships in the hundreds of thousands. The secondhand content doesn't stop at analysis. The trend of 'reaction videos' in which users film themselves viewing media and then post it has become some prolific that some clips have gone viral and been featured on popular talk shows like Conan and Jimmy Kimmel.
In her article, Singer, somewhat insultingly, these users don't "do the hard work of generating their own [content]" (Singer 57), however such an accusation undermines the effort of production, presentation, and creativity that goes into viewer created works. Take, for example, parody videos such as those cited in Brooks Barnes' New York Times article. In the article, Barnes quotes a Nickelodeon rep who responded to questions about the virality of fan creative Spongebob music videos by saying "our audiences can creatively mash video from our content as much and as often as they like" (Barnes). Almost as much time and effort and thought goes into the generation of such works as into original content, sometimes more. The fact is that we, as audiences, are no longer passive consumers of media. Media is now a means of fueling our own creativity; we seek to continue the consumptive experience by broadening it in creative ways and new media provides the impetus and the means of doing so.
The title of Barnes' article asks "Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?" The answer is obvious to anyone whose ever observed the impact of internet virility. By permitting users the tools to creatively alter, adapter,disseminate, and redistribute media it makes the elements it uses more relevant, interesting, and appealing to a other users for new and engaging reasons. White vans became a hot item after 'Damn Daniel' spread across the internet and the "Why You Always Lying" parody video launched a much forgotten song back into public consciousness by giving a fresh and hilarious new reference point. Fan creativity is now a marker of media popularity and attempting to stop it in this day in age is not only futile, it's counterproductive.
Because new media systems and platforms give users so many ways to digest and engage themselves with media, be it tv, movies, books, or news, it facilities unlimited creativity. A big of photo editing software and a few clicks of the mouse and you can have Churchill sharing stage-space with Kanye West. Some filming, actors, and upload time and you can have a modern day adaption of Pride and Prejudice that even many professional critics agree is one of the best translations of a classic novel into the present era ever done. With new media, anyone has the tools to explore the bounds of their creativity right at their fingertips.
Citations
Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why? The New York Times, September 24, 2007; available at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/business/media/24crank.html
User-generated visibility: Secondary gatekeeping in a shared media space New Media Society-2014-Singer-55-73.pdf
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