An Audience vs. a Public

The distinction between an audience and a public is one that even newspapers editors seem unable to make. I never really bothered to think about this difference myself until I read Clay Shirky’s most recent article on the faith of the newspaper industry.

An audience is a crowd gathered to watch a spectacle or a show at any given point in time. A public is a group of people who show up regularly over an extended period of time. They couldn’t be more different.

People in an audience are mainly attracted by the attention other people are paying. They may not be interested in the show itself. Regardless, audiences are temporary, short-lived, ephemeral.

People that form a public are interested in a publication, certain events, or a topic over a longer period of time. These people form a group that keeps returning, who keep paying attention.

Newspaper for example are in a particularly striking bind. Their paper versions have large publics and relatively small audiences. Their websites on the other hand have small – insignificant – publics and large, ever changing audiences.

Advertisers in old media are willing to pay for publics and mostly indifferent to audiences. They understand that audiences come and go and don’t regard ads as valuable. They also understand that publics care more about ads because they subsidize the newspapers and magazines they care about.

Advertisers on Google however understand that all viewers of their ads are part of the audience, that there is no public. That’s why adding Google ads to your website doesn’t pay off since the people in your public – if you have one – realize that the advertisers don’t care – and probably don’t even know – about their favorite website.

This blog doesn’t have a public to speak of – it can’t have – but occasionally it attracts a sizeable audience. It’s virtually impossible to build a public in a bang. People attract large audiences all of the time, very often without even trying. These are virals. To build a public one first has to be a new medium. Not just content, not just a website but a medium.

The medium is the message. A public is there because of that message. It’s probably impossible to practice so called “crafted” journalism without a public. Or, to say the same thing differently: “crafted” journalism creates a public. It doesn’t matter if on occasion – or every day – a large audience comes by to base their opinions and decisions on quality journalism. Journalists and editors work for their public.

Both journalists and other authors have editors. The difference between both is that journalists’ work is published almost daily so they get to address their public frequently. It’s this frequency that builds a public in the first place.

But building a public doesn’t require “crafted” journalism. In other words: it doesn’t require journalists to build a public. It requires a message and frequency. Bloggers can build a public as well. Vloggers can build a public. Software developers can build a public. Publics form around forums. Insurance companies build publics.

Media is much more than the content we’re used to. Math is media. Language is media. Insurances are media. Anything – really anything – that can bring across a message is media. Coca-cola is media. Motorcycles are media. All media have a public. Without a public there is no message that travels around, that’s why the media is the message.

It’s practically impossible to monetize off of an audience – although you can always make a lucky sale. To make any kind of money it’s vital to know who’s in your public. For this blog, I don’t have a clue who’s who.