Content (media)

Content is the information contained within communication media. This includes internet, cinema, television, radio, audio CDs, books, magazines, physical art, and live event content. It is directed at an end-user or audience in the sectors of publishing, art, and communication. Live events include speeches, conferences, and stage performances. Content within media focuses on the attention and how receptive the audience is to the content. Circulation brings the content to everyone and helps spread it to reach large audiences. It is a process in which anyone who encounters any type of content will go through a cycle where they encounter the content, interpret it, and will continue to share it with other people. The advent of the Information Age has led to the advancement of content as a mass-produced commodity for distribution through avenues such as the Internet (and more specifically social media) and the professionalisation of content creation. Any content developed or disseminated by an individual or on one's behalf, including but not limited to content distributed via books, magazines, brochures, newsletters, newspapers, social media, billboards, websites, mobile applications, movies, television, and radio, is referenced to as media content. Content is "something [...] expressed through some medium, as speech, writing or any of various arts." A main aspect of content is the medium (from Latin medium, "means, surface") which consists in the infrastructure, surface, and system in which a message is disseminated. However, the medium provides little to no value to the end-user without the information and experiences that make up the content. Communication theory philosopher Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase "The medium is the message." The phrase highlights how the means used to communicate a message (the medium) have a bearing on the way the message itself will be interpreted, and provide important contextual information. Content notably distinguishes itself by its memetic property, wherein users replicate and adapt content for retransmission.