Six Characteristics of Mass Communication

1. Message produced in complex organizations
The first characteristic of Mass Communication is message produced in complex organization. It means that message produced and implemented throughout an orgaization. The process used for defined and produced the message depends on how large and how complex the organization is. In a larger organization, a planning session may provide valuable insights from your employees and will help to ensure widespread agreement with your messaging. For example, in the organization, the messages produced differently depends on each employers. Especially at a large organization, it’s okay if people don’t all “tell the story” in exactly the same way. This process produced the message differently in complex organizations.

2. Message fixed in some form with information and symbolic content (either in digital bits or commodity form) This second aspect simply means how a certain choice of font or cover can and should represent then whole media and how it is related to the content, which means event aspects as simple as the symbolic content can send a message. An example could be taken from a Runway Magazine. Runway always has thin and slender model on their cover, dressed in an expensive and very classy couture. The font choice might be interpreted as classy to some. The color chosen is always very expensive looking for example gold, red, black or any color with the right classy shade. The cover of this magazine always represent the article they are going to explore on that very issue for example Fall fashion, Winter couture, Pleaded skirts, etc. The same goes for internet sites. Let’s take the Wall Street Journal Online for example.

When one opens a Wall Street Journal website, they will immediately know that this is a news site. The color choice which only consists of black, gray, and white and also the format that is of a newspaper, shows us that this is no entertainment site. As supposed to a headline a Runway magazine would have, the Wall Street Journal would have “Obama re-elected” or “Windows share price went up” and a series of photo that supports the article or charts of the market price. I think the symbolic and information content intertwined quite closely. The choice of symbolic content goes hand in hand with the in formation and content of the site or printed media, therefore we should choose every aspect carefully.

3. Message is sent / transmitted or diffused widely via a technological medium (newspaper, magazine, CD or videocassette, radio, television, satellite or internet) The meaning of this characteristic is if you want spread messages widely, then you have to use the technological mediums, such as news paper, magazine, CD or videocassette, radio, television, satellite or internet. The medium is important because without a medium, there is no link or bridge to deliver the message to the audiences or mass. For example, every company which want to advertise their product need use the technological medium to deliver their message to the audiences, so they will use TV and Newspaper as the medium to attract and persuades people to buy their products.

4. Message is delivered rapidly over great space
This characteristic means that message will spread rapidly through the great space. For example, ‘mother amplifier network’. In the daily life, there are large number of mother. They like to send the message one another and afterwards, the message is rapidly spread not just in their area but also affect another areas. With this example, we can see that message is delivered rapidly over great space. The space here means time and place. Within a time, the message will delivered to many other places.

5. Message reaches large groups of different people silmutaneously or within a short period of time This characteristic is lately used by so many people via internet, smartphone, etc. It means that message can reaches large groups of different people (in different places) within a short period of time. For example, in this era, it is not impossible for us to connect with people from different country where is far from ours. We can share the messages to many different people (large groups of people) in different areas without waiting for so long time. Within just couple of seconds, we can spread and share the messages to so many people.

6. Message is primarily one – way, not two way
This last characteristic means that each message is primarily sent in the form of one-way—it is delivered only from one person/group to the public. But that is the traditional characteristics of mass communication. In the past, people use mass communication to inform the important message in only one way so that the public can easily access the message without asking or commenting the message. Back in the day when the people sell newspaper, they send the information through yelling so that other people become interested in buying the newspaper, or, at least, just want to know the news. Today, in this globalization era, people send messages to the public, and public can send messages back to the sender.

People use Twitter to share their ideas which those ideas can be easily accessed by the people worldwide, and vice versa, the people worldwide can easily reply or respond to someone’s ideas. Another example comes from reading online news. We can comment on the news directly in the news page below the article, sometimes we can use facebook. For example, by reading Yahoo! News, we can comment on the news using our Fcaebook account, so not only getting the news, we can also make friends and share other valuable information. In brief, in today’s world, the characteristics of mass communication can be updated. The message is primarily one-way, but can also be two-way by using the social media.