Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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47% of Americans use their cellphones and tablet computers to get local news and information. Among all cellphone and tablet owners, 42% get local weather updates and 37% get material about restaurants or other local businesses on their mobile devices.
Domestic and foreign conflicts—from Madison to Tripoli—generated plenty of attention in social media last week, with users opining and relaying breaking news. On YouTube, scenes of Mideast unrest once again made the roster of most popular videos.
Continued fighting in Libya and the union faceoff in Wisconsin fueled the No. 1 and No. 2 stories overall last week. But the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on Friday March 11 quickly overwhelmed every other story—including a controversial hearing on Islamic terrorism.
As the media landscape shifts, where can people turn for coverage of local news subjects, particularly government and public affairs? A new study conducted by a team of Michigan State University researchers, examines 175 communities and finds the majority of news about local government still comes from newspapers. But in many cases it is weeklies not dailies providing the most coverage. PEJ offers a summary of their findings.
First it was Egypt, then Bahrain and last week, Libya as the media focused on yet another country in the rolling and roiling season of Mideast revolution. Back at home, the faceoff between pro-union forces and Wisconsin’s Republican governor fueled coverage of the week’s second-biggest story.
Last week, bloggers tackled the situation in Egypt as both reporter and commentator. More were critical of Obama’s actions but the discussion moved far beyond the current president. And two of the most-viewed videos on YouTube featured scenes of the protests in the streets of Cairo.
Two very different issues led the conversation on the blogosphere last week: the record U.S. deficit and the post-Mubarak transformation in Egypt. On Twitter, the No. 1 topic was self-referential— a list of influential English people who use Twitter.
