New media in the social spaces. Strategies of influence

Piotr Siuda

Presenting the readers with publication on the functioning of new media in contemporary social spaces it is worth to look back and refer to the famous these by Marshal McLuhan who contributed enormously to the development the modern discourse about media and communication. He gain his renown with foreseeing humankind entering the “information age” and the beginning of the “global village” era. Global as it would include almost all contemporary world. Village as humans dispose the communication means with unprecedented speed, capacity and availability. McLuhan was also the first one who pointed out that the modern media (means of communication) become a carrying and engaging message themselves, they affect greatly the character of information and styles of perception. Moreover, he notices, the character of the communication means has greater impact in the receiver than the message itself (Understanding media the extensions of man, New York : McGraw-Hill, 1964). The reference to on of the greatest mass communication theoreticians is important as, while it was formed on the basis of observation, mainly satellite television, McLuhan’s vision practically fulfills today due to the digital revolution in the 90’s and popularization of the Internet and new media. It is today that first “digital natives” enter into adulthood (Mac Prensky), that is the children of the new media era, a generation socialized not only by the social environment: peer groups, older adults, but also – to a large degree – by the digital media.