Poetry and its Audience in the Digital Age

Abstract

The study assesses the influence that new technologies, relative to the poetic content and poetry as art, have on the field of public relations. The main trends in the development of modern poetry as an object of online promotion, the ties connecting the digital format as such to this specific genre and the methods of modern media promotion are concerned as the key research areas. Digital technologies have produced profound changes in society and in the sphere of media. The impact of online tools and infrastructure both on poetry itself and for the methods on its promotion is also relevant. One should note, the digital reality does not necessarily require the flattening of style, the dominance of prose — poetry remains viable. Moreover, in the era of digital devices and the growing dominance of web technologies, poetry acquires new meaning and significance both as an art form and as a traditional need, which can be attributed to the domain of the spiritual. The adaptation to the digital reality shapes poetry in several aspects. This trend is reinforced by the development of traditional poetry as a type of multimedia content and the proliferation of poetry in social networks. The promotion of poetry has received little attention in both Russian and international academic contexts. PR in poetry is usually examined in broader or related frameworks, such as art marketing or publishing. This approach disregards the specificity of poetry as an art form. The available data lacks consistency, and the overwhelming majority of the relevant articles relate to popular science and journalism, not scientific literature. The analysis shows that in the modern age, poetry is pivoting on new platforms, online, while poetic content is actively integrating with the multimedia format. Poetry is able to address themes and ideas that resonate within new generations, thus remaining alive and proliferating. This finds proof in the context of online texts: they acquire the status of media which integrate traditional art patterns with the commercialized and blog-oriented digital art forms and industries (visual arts, music, etc.). This process manifests itself in the growing popularity of poetry among the youth, digitally. New methods of monetizing poetry are emerging, thus increasing the attractiveness of a poetic career.