Audience: What does that really mean in an online world?

I am currently in a Composition 300 class where we read articles from a book titled Rhetorical Readings for Advanced Writers. As I was reading one by Andrea A. Lunsford and Lisa Ede called "Among the Audience": On Audience in an Age of New Literacies, it struck me how different writing is now because of all the social media aspects that contribute to a majority of the media world. In the 80's they had originally wrote an article that discussed the importance of the relationship between text, author, and audience. However, with this new article they discuss that context must now be added as a critical aspect when discussing online writings.

Another idea they mention is that how now anyone can become a writer due to things such as Twitter, Wikipedia, or blogs just like this one. Comments can be left, interactions can occur, and a group of followers can be established just by publishing one interesting article or idea. This type of writing does not require much ability or a publisher or anything of that sort, which literally mobilizes anyone to be able to post online and even get recognized on a local, national or global level.

I think that this is a great way for new writers to get recognized, but however I think it can be dangerous in some areas because it could be hard to determine whether or not the source is credible. Online can sometimes be a sticky place due to the fact that things can be cut and pasted or misrepresented. This really causes me to be skeptical of information that I find online and websites which I find them on. Since this line is blurring so much between audience and author, I personally have begun intently researching authors and their credentials so that I am not mislead. And I would suggest everyone do that as well, so that authors (such as me) are not just strictly taken for what they post online without additional needed background.

This picture is what I think of when thinking of the normal representation of a reader/speaker presenting their information to an audience. It is an active listening audience.

http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/37/3791/BDCIF00Z/posters/beatnik-poet-reading-to-an-audience.jpg

This next image I believe is a representation of how there is not just one central author or speaker but rather they are all intertwined and interconnected.

http://www.virtualsocialmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/social-networking-services-300x300.jpg