To whom it may concern, this week I am going to talk about audience fragmentation and if it has killed superstardom. To those who do not know, audience fragmentation is the separation of audiences into smaller groups due to multiple media outlets. I do not feel that this has killed superstardom at all, in a way it has increased superstardom. Because of the plethora of media sources, people who would not normally get national or even international recognition are becoming vastly well known and adored. For example youtube.com has created many temporary superstars that are get international recognition for the home videos that they have created. I do feel though that because of audience fragmentation, the period they are superstars for has been decreased immensely. Using youtube.com as an example, every week there is a new youtube.com star and sometimes every day there are new stars. These stars rarely ever make a lasting impression on society unless they frequently up load new videos. I do feel that audience fragmentation is eroding societies shared experiences. I remember when I was younger and a big star would be coming out with a new film, everyone would be excited and enthralled to go see it. Now people are less interested in seeing these films per say, because there are so many other sources of entertainment, a lot of which have no costs. Along with the film industry, because of the abundance of television channels, few people watch the same program all the time and share the experience. This has created a separation in our society as a whole because now people would rather be with people that are interested in the same things that they are, rather than everyone getting together and watching whatever is being provided. I do not feel that this is a completely negative effect of audience fragmentation because I personally love the freedom and choice of being able to watch what I want, when I want. Convergence has also lead to separation of society. Before DVR and the internet if you wanted to watch a program, you had to be watching at the exact time it was being broadcasted at, many of times forcing you to watch it other people who want to watch the program.