How much audience can you have before you can call it a mass medium?

The definition of mass media focuses not on the number of users but on the nature of the medium. In layman's terms, media that are mass-produced by a professional organization that delivers the same message to the entire society without selectivity are called mass media. Newspapers, for example, may have reached only a few hundred businessmen in Germany when they were first created, but by their very nature they were already mass media. Whereas a medium like walkie-talkie, landline, no matter how many people use it, it cannot be called a mass medium because it is a point-to-point information dissemination tool.

Functional Characteristics of Mass Media

The medium of communication has the characteristics of fast speed, wide range, and great influence in spreading information. Mass media have five functions, namely, publicity function, news dissemination function, public opinion supervision function, practical function and cultural accumulation function.

The mass media are mainly divided into two categories: print and electronic. Both types of media have their own characteristics. Printed mass media mainly include newspapers and magazines. Newspapers have a larger circulation, and are therefore the largest print mass communication medium, and are the preferred communication tool for businesses, and therefore newspapers have many advantages.

First, the information is more detailed. Compared with television, newspapers contain more in-depth information, detailed, comprehensive, readers can get more systematic information.

Second, the information is optional. Modern life is fast-paced, time is tight, although the newspaper contains a large amount of information, but readers can according to their own needs and preferences, in the many information to choose their own interest to read, and do not have to watch TV and listen to the radio as, regardless of whether they like it or not, have to watch (listen to) not to be mistaken.

Third, the information can be retained. Encountered a good commodity information, the reader can be retained for a long time, in order to be ready to ask for use. Radio and television, although the sound of the ear, vivid picture, but fleeting, difficult to retain in the memory for a long time.

Fourth, the cost of information is low. Newspapers are relatively inexpensive and do not have to invest a large amount of money at once, which is acceptable to the public. Electronic equipment investment is higher, and the need for special reception equipment, and computers also need a certain operating technology.