Cultural Identity Politics in the (Post-)Transitional Societies
Cultural Identity Politics in the (Post-)Transitional Societies
Cultural Identity Politics in the (Post-)Transitional Societies
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>Cultural</strong> <strong>Identity</strong> <strong>Politics</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> (<strong>Post</strong>-)<strong>Transitional</strong> <strong>Societies</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong>ir structural position and broadcast<strong>in</strong>g content and a reach to mass populations.<br />
However, <strong>the</strong> technical process of digitalization reshapes <strong>the</strong> technical basis of mass<br />
media and <strong>the</strong>ir public so <strong>the</strong> new media consumers are search<strong>in</strong>g for <strong>in</strong>formation <strong>in</strong><br />
multiple sources o<strong>the</strong>r than broadcast<strong>in</strong>g space.<br />
Table 2: Top 10 sites on <strong>the</strong> Web<br />
GLOBAL AUSTRIA CROATIA SLOVENIA<br />
SERBIA AND<br />
MONTENEGRO 61<br />
1. Google<br />
Google<br />
Österreich<br />
Google.hr Google.si Google<br />
2. Facebook Facebook Facebook Google Facebook<br />
3. YouTube Google Google Facebook YouTube<br />
4. Yahoo! YouTube YouTube YouTube Google.rs<br />
5.<br />
W<strong>in</strong>dows Österreicischer<br />
Live<br />
Rundfunk<br />
Net.hr 24ur.com Yahoo!<br />
6. Baidu.com Wikipedia Index.hr<br />
Slovenski<br />
Iskalnik<br />
Blic<br />
7. Wikipedia<br />
Amazon.de<br />
GmbH<br />
Jutarnji List SiOL B92<br />
8. Blogger.com derStandard.at Wikipedia Wikipedia Wikipedia<br />
9. QQ.com Google.de Yahoo!<br />
Radiotelevizija<br />
Slovenija<br />
Blogger.com<br />
10. Twitter Yahoo.com<br />
Telefonski<br />
imenik HT-a<br />
Yahoo! W<strong>in</strong>dows Live<br />
Source: http://www.alexa.com/topsites (26 November 2010)<br />
From <strong>the</strong> table (Table 2) we can see that social media occupy high rank<strong>in</strong>gs but that<br />
different pr<strong>in</strong>t or broadcast<strong>in</strong>g media websites also occupy <strong>the</strong> top ten national rank<strong>in</strong>gs.<br />
This shows that <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>terested public is look<strong>in</strong>g for <strong>in</strong>formation <strong>in</strong> media spaces o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
<strong>the</strong>n broadcast<strong>in</strong>g space. When we compare mass media to social media we can assume<br />
that social media owe <strong>the</strong>ir popularity to horizontal types of one-to-one and many-tomany<br />
horizontal communication. Inside <strong>the</strong> space enabled by <strong>the</strong> World Wide Web<br />
<strong>the</strong>y are compet<strong>in</strong>g for popularity <strong>in</strong> attempts to claim reach to <strong>the</strong> largest parts of <strong>the</strong><br />
population. The mass media becomes a term that is no longer reserved for broadcast<strong>in</strong>g<br />
media s<strong>in</strong>ce social media are be<strong>in</strong>g used by <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g numbers of users. 8<br />
The nature of borders <strong>in</strong> cyberspace<br />
What was considered media space and <strong>the</strong> reality that it produces has, at least <strong>in</strong><br />
8<br />
In Croatia some 850,000 citizens use social network sites (SNS), accord<strong>in</strong>g to Gfk Croatia<br />
(2009) “Gdje smo danas u <strong>in</strong>formatičkoj pismenosti [Where are we today <strong>in</strong> ICT literacy]”,<br />
based on a representative sample of citizens older than 15 years (n=1000). Available at:<br />
http://www.gfk.hr/public_relations/press/press_articles/005364/<strong>in</strong>dex.hr.html.<br />
90