The emerging global screen ecology of social media entertainment

This chapter examines the claims for the distinctiveness of the new screen ecology as compared to earlier and other, dominant mainstream contemporary screen industry formations. The social networking practice of community-building represents far more than the development of fandom and celebrity that legacy media has perfected over the past century. Social media platforms, including YouTube and Facebook, are leaders in the use of programmatic advertising—the automation of ad buying and placement through the deployment of big data analytics. This enables them to generate great efficiencies in matching advertising to digital content as content travels virtually seamlessly across borders and regions. These platforms are competing as much against each other as they are posing challenges to established screen media industries. There are clear dividing lines between platforms committed to professional content and competing directly against cable and broadcast. Though iterating content strategies and monetising through advertising, remain firmly on the social media side of social media entertainment.