Massmediatizing Mobile Phones: Content Development, Professional Convergence and Consumption

Mobile telephones serve simultaneously as digital metadevices, identity-related cultural objects and media for production, distribution and consumption of cultural content. Involvement of cultural industries in mobile phone characterization has altered classic media practices and provided a venue for their convergence with new ones. This process, known as mediatization, concerns not only content distribution but also transformation of media routines and strategies, the emergence of a new language and content formats and the merging of personal and industrial cultural content in certain social and consumption practices. This study examines three consequences of mobile phone mediatization: Transformation of standard media routines and products, the emerging content catalogue and users ’ perceptions of mobile media capabilities and content. The conceptual system proposed addresses two phenomena: Intersection between the public and private spheres and transition from social interaction to cultural consumption, overlapping identity management and mass media consumption practices