Doing radio in the age of Facebook

Abstract

This article begins with the hypothesis that social media are the prosecution of radio by other means; its aim will be to focus on the changes that radio has undergone since it started to mix with social media, in particular Facebook (FB). How deeply have such changes affected the relationship between radio producers and listeners? The article will analyse the cases of three Italian radio programmes that have developed an intense interaction with their listeners through FB. It will report on quantitative observation of the social media activity of these programmes over an entire week and show the different social media strategies implemented by the selected programmes, as well as their different dramaturgical relations with the listeners.

Podcasting: Considering the evolution of the medium and its association with the word ‘radio’

“…It carries content for general entertainment and learning (Brabazon 2009). It is a medium that is capable of being both radiogenic and non-radiogenic and is both a commercialized space (Bonini 2012) and a more authentic and independent media form (Meserko 2015) (Markman 2012). Just as radio convenes a set of practices and experiences, podcasting has now established a similar, but different, set of conventions and opportunities with an established canon of scholarship.…”

“…output of many radio stations, where social media practices (Bonini 2012), video and visuals (Berry: 2014) and mobile apps (Morris and Patterson 2015) further complicate these earlier definitions and suggest that radio is increasingly a selection of multifaceted interactive practices (Cordeiro 2012). The most talked about podcast of the recent time, Serial (Berry: 2015) can be located within this paradigmatic shift, as although it was radiogenic in nature and created by radio producers employed by a radio business, it was not intended for radio broadcast.…”

Radio y redes sociales. Nuevas competencias y estrategias de interacción entre la audiencia y el periodismo radiofónico

“…Este fenómeno ha sido objeto de estudio desde finales de los años 90, coincidiendo con el inicio de su incorporación al entorno digital (Bonini, 2006;Priestman, 2002). El sector de la prensa, pionero en su implementación, se convierte también en el primero en ser objeto de análisis por parte de la comunidad investigadora.…”

“…315 Esta circunstancia también se reproduce en el resto de medios de comunicación (Macnamara, 2010;Cajazeira, 2014 Por contra, las cadenas sí hacen un uso intensivo de las redes con fines promocionales (Díaz-Campo y Segado, 2013;Ferguson y Greer, 2011;NavarroMaillo, 2013;Herrero Gutiérrez, 2011;Requejo y Herrera, 2014;Garber, 2011) y, en menor medida, informativos (Bonixe, 2010a(Bonixe, , 2010b(Bonixe, , 2012bHerrera y Hermida, 2014;Herrera y Requejo, 2012). Se convierten así, en una suerte de agregadores de noticias (Díaz-Campo y Segado, 2013;Garber, 2011) a través de los cuales avanzar y difundir contenidos y fomentar su consumo tanto en directo como en diferido (Sellas, 2013b) previa redirección a su entorno web (Freeman et al, 2012), en lo que se conoce como "tecnología de tracción 316 " (Fidalgo y Canavilhas, 2009;Bonini, 2012).…”

“…Su presencia implica la obtención de mayores índices de engagement (Videla y Piñeiro, 2013), una eficaz colaboración e implicación por parte de la audiencia (Bonini, 2012) o la "conquista" de nuevos territorios temáticos 321 por parte de las cadenas Freeman et al, 2012).…”