CHENNAI: The digital media revolution has recast the way people communicate, moving away from the previous hierarchies to a world of networks, said Ariel Pollock, public affairs officer, US Department of State, at the inauguration of the Digital Media Summit organised by MOP Vaishnav College for Women.
Pollock, chief guest at the two-day event, emphasised the role of digital media as a marketing tool that changed the way public diplomacy was done.
“Be it advocating for the US for higher education, or as a destination for tourism and investment, the tools involve people-to-people communication, but often public diplomacy practitioners and communicators cannot reach out due to the scale of engagement. But over the last decade, digital media has changed the game,” she said.
Quoting a comparison made by the former editor of TIME Magazine, Richard Stengel, Pollock added that today’s era was not one of hierarchies but of networks. “It’s more like the bazaar — extremely horizontal and focussing on people-to-people communication. Mobile phones and instant messaging has pushed instantaneous communication and the result has been a tectonic shift in the media landscape.”
The summit, organised with the help of echoVME Pvt Ltd, will have technical sessions from professionals and hands-on approach to integrated digital marketing and networking.