1 Participation, play and socializing in new media environments Gunn Enli and Trine Syvertsen (PaP Research Group) 1 Chapter Overview This chapter discusses new media user patterns, and specifically the trend whereby audiences are invited to respond to television programmes and channels. The chapter demonstrates how the media industry through e-mail, web and SMS creates opportunities for the audience to be more active. These efforts can be explained with reference to the media’s need to sustain their position in the face of increased competition from new media. The chapter presents the results of a survey investigating the extent to which the audiences use the new respond facilities and their motivations for doing so. This is in turn related to three key terms in media theory/sociology: participation, play and socializing. Key terms: participation, play, personalisation, individualism, media-centrism Questions • How do people use new media to respond to television programmes and producers? • How can new media use be understood in the light of traditional media theory? • What are the basic motivations for people to participate in media activities? Introduction The advent of digital technology and the convergence between media, markets and services have been predicted to lead to major changes in communication patterns. So far this millennium, convergence has not manifested itself as a coming together of all media into a super-medium or über-box (Fagerjord 2002). What we are seeing instead is a process of diversification where traditional media remain distinct, but where companies move into each others’ markets and create services based on the combination of platforms. These moves fit well with two key trends in media production and consumption, that of media personalisation and user involvement in production. The first of these trends has characterized media developments for decades – gradually more and more technological appliances have been designed to allow individuals to personalise their content (from the remote control, to the walkman, to MP3-players and electronic programme guides). The trend of audience involvement is more recent, but since 2000, much of the focus and strategic energy in press and broadcasting have concerned how to design formats that may elicit responses from readers and viewers. 1 This article is based partly on empirical evidence gathered under the auspices of the research group Participation and play in converging media (PaP). The group, which is based at the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Oslo, brings together researchers on broadcasting and new media, focusing, among other things, on how regulatory frameworks, industry structure and policies frame the production and use of multi-platform media hybrids (see project outline at http://imweb.uio.no/pap/)