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The Future of Audiences pp 123–140Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Emerging Trends in Small Acts of Audience Engagement and Interruptions of Content Flows

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Abstract

This chapter develops a set of findings around audiences’ small-scale acts of engagement with media content made available through digital media technologies. We identify and discuss three articulations of these small acts: (1) one click engagement, (2) commenting and debating and (3) small stories. In contrasting them with more collaborative and convergent productive practices, we further conceptualise these engagements in relation to two main dimensions: effort and intentionality. Lastly, we suggest a conceptualisation of the outcome of these acts which we have labelled interruption. Content flows can be challenged, if not transformed, due to the volume of small acts, which is realised by the producing audiences as well as by mainstream media. Profound changes in the way information is produced and distributed are fuelled by small acts of engagement, and these trends are likely to continue into the futures this book speaks about.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Media Studies, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia

    Jelena Kleut

  2. Charles University, Prague 1, Prague, Czech Republic

    Tereza Pavlíčková

  3. imec-SMIT, Department of Communication Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

    Ike Picone

  4. Universiteit Ghent, Vakgroep Communicatiewetenschappen, Ghent, Belgium

    Sander De Ridder

  5. Malmö University, Soeborg, Denmark

    Bojana Romic

  6. Department of Communication and Arts, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark

    Jannie Møller Hartley

Authors
  1. Jelena Kleut
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  2. Tereza Pavlíčková
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  3. Ike Picone
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  4. Sander De Ridder
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  5. Bojana Romic
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  6. Jannie Møller Hartley
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jelena Kleut .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom

    Ranjana Das

  2. University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Brita Ytre-Arne

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Kleut, J., Pavlíčková, T., Picone, I., De Ridder, S., Romic, B., Hartley, J.M. (2018). Emerging Trends in Small Acts of Audience Engagement and Interruptions of Content Flows. In: Das, R., Ytre-Arne, B. (eds) The Future of Audiences. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75638-7_7

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