Digital content viewers are an audience, not a public, implying performance.

Evidence

I use the term audience rather than the public when describing viewers of a piece of digital content. The term “audience” can refer to the imagined audience, the actual audience, or the potential audience for one’s content. But while “potential audience” resembles the vernacular sense of “public,” I use “audience” here to mean the actual audience, the people interested in a piece of information who actually view it. Just as media professionals do not use the term “public” for people watching a movie or TV show, we should not use it for digital content. The use of audience also implies performance, because a lot of digital content is created with impression management in mind. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 549

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precisely defines audience vs. public — a foundational distinction in the field.
• XREF: The audience/public distinction and its performance implication connect to the reader’s broader media studies grounding in Erving Goffman’s impression management. — connects to: Audience reception, not content quality, constitutes internet celebrity — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame…, 92; Broadcast mass media turn audiences into passive listeners with no means of reply. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 94; The networked audience differs from broadcast audience by being connected. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 550 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Audience reception, not content quality, constitutes internet celebrity #expands (0.85) — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity, 92
• Broadcast mass media turn audiences into passive listeners with no means of reply. #expands (0.80) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 94
• The networked audience differs from broadcast audience by being connected. #qualifies (0.78) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 550
• The networked audience differs from broadcast audiences in enabling active participation #qualifies (0.78) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 593