Prosumers

Inexpensive digital production tools, digital storage, the proliferation of free online social platforms, increasing broadband speeds, and computer processing power have made it easy and inexpensive for non-professionals to create content.

Previously the purview of trained professionals, high powered still and video cameras are now designed as much with the prosumer in mind, such as this Sony DSLR. Source: Flickr/ The Other Martin Tyler

Inexpensive digital production tools, digital storage, the proliferation of free online social platforms (Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr etc), increasing broadband speeds and computer processing power have made it easy and inexpensive for non-professions to create content. And create it, they have in vast quantities. Today, the average digital consumer is:

Writing content for blogs, online newsgathering organizations, Twitter, Facebook, self-published books;
Shooting and editing her own videos/films;
Creating, recording and producing her own music;
Shooting her own photographs, etc.

While much content is of low production quality and not intended as a money making venture, some non-professional content producers are creating professional quality content, gaining recognition within industry circles and starting careers as professionals in the cultural industries.

Signals:

The meteroic rise of social media, including blogs and social video services such as YouTube have been strong indicators of consumer desire to create and share their own media.
The popularity of tools specifically developed for the enthusiast in the making of this content is another indicator of this trend’s growth. The low-cost and easy accessibility of tools such as high-definition video cameras and powerful editing software, for example, has attracted more so-called prosumers into the creative arena.

Implications:

The growth of prosumer-created media is having a direct impact on consumption patterns of professionally produced media, eating into time spent viewing, reading or otherwise consuming the latter. This has put prosumer media in direct competition to traditional media.
Distribution platforms are opening up and becoming more democratized, even blending professional with prosumer content in order to attract audiences. This is happening with gaming, news, music and video, where some platforms mix both sources.

Countertrends:

As with many trends driven by democratization, there are few notable countertrends to the rise of prosumerism. There are no evident signals of a return to expert specialization in the near future, though continued economic weakening could result in less ability by prosumers to engage in their favored activities. Already some companis are scaling back or canceling extension of prosumer tool lines, notable high-end camera maker RED.

Extrapolations:

Steady expansion of prosumerism, combined with plentiful open technology and networks, could lead to extension of what author Chris Anderson calls the long-tail phenomenon, with as many niche markets and “channels” for content as there are consumers.