media convergence, tech convergence, synergy and proliferation

 Synergy is the interaction of two or more agents to ensure a larger effect than if then if they acted on their own. Synergy is primarily a marketing strategy designed to maximise the amount of coverage and impact of any exposure to the brand/product/game etc will get at specific time, but it can also be seen in terms of distribution and production. A good example of this is Rockstar, where they made it in to a magazine to advertise the game. It later came out in the video game, showing that they worked together to make the game bigger and more popular, as in the magazine it would advertise the game and make costumers want to purchase it. 

Proliferation is a fast increase of a certain type of product. They normally use this in media and businesses to get lots of the same product.  They do this when a certain product becomes extremely popular, and sometimes it is used when there is a breakthrough in technology which allows lots of companies to enter the market. An example of Proliferation is the iPhone, which became very popular to everyone, this encouraged the other companies to then try and design and create similar phones and to make similar apps which you can download on to the phone, such as the Shanshui. One further example of this are the many qwerty keyboard smart phones with specific chats such as ‘ping chat’ which mirrors blackberry and blackberry messenger.

Media Convergence is when an old and new style of media cross in a way that results in media producers and media consumers interacting and thus changing. An example of media convergence is Rockstar, it joined with TV industry and used TV channels in games with comedy sets from celebrities. It also used licensed music, which enables the games to create realism and be movie like for the audience to get a better experience of the game. The use of consumption of GTA 4 is an example of media convergence as consumers have used both old and new media to consume the game. GTA fans have used the internet to create fan sites and communities to share tips etc about the game

Technology convergence is the trend of technologies merging into new technologies, bringing together a number of different media. Technological convergence in the last few years has resulted in devices that not only interact with the media but that are primarily designed to handle, but also with a number of other formats. For example, the Xbox video game console has a primary function to playing console games, but is also able to play back video and music and to connect to the internet. Technological convergence also leads to devices that are designed specifically to replace a number of different devices. The iPod, for example, while originally devised as a portable music player, is now fully functional as a portable video player, photo album, and radio tuner. This is a very useful aspect of technological convergence in our day to day lives.