ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how major changes to media have impacted on institutions, organisations and individuals, and how these changes influence and shape the social, cultural, political and economic practices of everyday life. One way of thinking through the convergence of media as it applies to the practices used by communication and public relations professionals is through the popular idea of 'PESO'—a media model that uses a Venn diagram to show the overlap of paid, earned, shared and owned media. PESO has provided a simple tool for thinking and talking about media as converging and intersecting. The smartphone and smart TVs represent the biggest growth areas of all media. In the United Kingdom, 78 per cent of adults used and owned a smartphone. In March 2020 TikTok began a new content partnership program with the World Health Organization to help get messages about COVID-19 through to its users.
