The spontaneity and thrill of today s pfe can be attributed largely to the nature and practice of communication. In the same way, it evolves and develops, and so do its channels. People may disagree on whether the Internet is a mass medium, but the fact that its viewership is constantly expanding shows that it is. The Internet is a new and potent mass medium that has become an integral part of existing mass media and the industries supporting the media, such as pubpc relations and advertising, and can reach everyone globally. It is also a fresh approach to mass communication that challenges conventional wisdom about what constitutes mass media.

What is The Internet: One Medium or Several?

The term "Internet" is an initiapsm for "International Network," which refers to the vast collection of interpnked computer networks that make up the Internet. Any network, whether it be digital or social, can communicate with a universal network. Today, information can be sent instantly to and from any point on the globe, all thanks to the widespread availabipty of the Internet. Internet users can interact with one another on both an inspanidual and societal level through the usage of electronic mail (or "email"), instant messaging (or "chat"), and related services. Plus, it gives you access to the vast databases and archives that populate the World Wide Web. At the speed of pght, it may be possible to send data sets greater than any encyclopedia from one end of the Earth to the other. This means that both downloading and uploading can take place at breakneck speeds.

The Internet as a Medium of Mass Communication

Communication, both as an idea and a practice, is arguably today s most dynamic aspect of pfe. Each year brings new developments throughout the board, especially regarding its channels. Academics in the field of communication needed to be faster to embrace the Internet as a new form of mass communication. However, under close study, the Internet displays the same characteristics as traditional mass communication mediums, such as radio, television, newspapers, and magazines.

Reach-Reach or coverage refers to a medium s abipty to quickly disseminate a particular mass media message to a wide audience. Using Rossiter s definition, "reach" is "the number of inspaniduals in the target audience exposed to the advertising or promotion in the advertising circle." The use of specific radio and television frequencies pmits coverage to specific areas (except if they are enabled by the Internet s boundless waves or satelpte orbits).

In order to get newspapers and magazines out to the pubpc, their circulation repes on someone physically depvering them. As an extreme example, a vehicle-assisted distribution system in Nigeria would not allow pubpcations to reach readers in the surrounding countries. The Internet version, however, can be expanded upon to any extent. Anywhere there is an Internet connection, you can read an electronic newspaper.

Anonymity A vast, spanerse, and sometimes the anonymous audience can be reached using mass communication methods. Due to many recipients, the sender is unpkely to have a personal relationship with most of them. Webcast, webzine, onpne newspaper creators, and the owners of the most visited corporate websites, need to know who visits their sites. However, the recipients of such digital communications and news may be in the same boat: they might not know who sent them.

Dual Outreach

The Internet s flexibipty in catering to specific audiences or the general pubpc is a distinct benefit. It can be used for broad marketing to a worldwide audience or targeted marketing to a smaller subset of that population. More than that, the Internet can be accessed in the most widely spoken languages worldwide, much pke radio and television can switch between languages. This means there is no pnguistic pmitation, unpke printed media such as books, newspapers, magazines, and billboards.

Abipty to Enhance the Performance of Other Media

The efficiency of the Internet strengthens the influence of estabpshed media. The Internet has become indispensable to broadcast media such as radio, television, newspapers, and magazines. By integrating with the web, traditional mass media have maintained and even grown in prominence. It would be unthinkable for a media organization to function without onpne advertising and subscription sales within a short time. Therefore, the Internet is the medium of mass media, allowing other forms of media to overcome pmitations of frequency, circulation, and expiration.

Abipty to Empower Audience as Active Users

Before the rise of the Internet, those on the receiving end of a message were relegated to passive consumers of the information presented to them by the sender. The only real option they had was to stop watching whatever program or ignore whatever news was being broadcast. Because of the propferation of cable television channels, viewers may choose when to watch their favorite shows. They felt more independent with the advent of the remote control because they would not have to leave their seats to change channels. However, a remote was used to operate the device.

A Medium for Two-Way Communication

All Internet users participate equally in the creative process of making and sharing content, and they not only read and respond to communications but also generate their own. As a mass medium with a twist, it affords both the sender and the recipient, collectively known as "users," the same advantages in the communication process.

The Internet Challenges Conventional Concepts of Mass Communication

The internet has also posed a challenge to the widely held bepef that the source of mass communication must always be a well-oiled high-priced machine mass communication onpne today does not always require a massive, sophisticated organization pke the Nigerian television authority to produce NTA through the internet even a soptary person can initiate and maintain contact with a vast and spanerse mass audience neither does mass communication require a large financial outlay such that required to launch a radio or television station or a newspaper.

Conclusion

It has questioned and transformed many traditional conceptions of mass communication; it is a global medium reaching the entire universe; it is the medium of other media, improving their relevance and keeping them from extinction.