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Technology is creating new ways of being, relating, getting around, becoming informed, and interacting. In this context of change that is brought about by ICT, it can be asserted that it is the relationship of people to media and information which has undergone the biggest transformation, specifically with the arrival of media such as the Internet. Digital media allows some recipients to frequently occupy the role of senders, capable of transmitting and sharing content without renouncing the role of media consumer. This process has generated «prosumer» as the concept that occupies the central focus of this issue of this journal.
It is worth noting that this situation -and, indeed, the conceptcannot be generalized to include everyone in developed countries. When speaking of the marriage between the audience and different technologies, one cannot leave out young people as primary users of these technologies and also as the main participants in the content, which is produced and transmitted over the Web for sharing purposes. The so-called «Generation Y», that is to say those who were bom in the '80s, has lived through one of the biggest transformations that has taken place in the history of humanity. Thus, Toffler refers to the «Third Wave», with the first being the agricultural revolution, the second the industrial revolution, and this last one the technological revolution. This digital Tsunami has necessarily brought about changes in different aspects of our existence, such as what has happened with the nomenclature of media, itself. Therefore, alongside concepts such as «mass media» the term «social media» has appeared as a permanent addition, even though all mass media is by definition also social media.
Throughout this process of change and adaptation to the new formulas of relating to the new media, three key activities can be seen: composing, sharing/participating, and distributing, which will be closely analyzed in the following. It is worth noting that none of these activities or essential elements in the relationship that is created between users and the particular media has isolated reasons for existing as far as digital natives are concerned.
With respect to the first of these activities, that of content creation, it is abundantly clear that anything from a video-witness to a call for solidarity through pictures or news...