Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
The recovery efforts following the tragic earthquake in Haiti continued to be the main subject of interest in parts of social media last week—particularly on Twitter and YouTube. Blogs also discussed details of the quake’s aftermath, but the blogosphere paid more attention to other topics, including warnings from European countries about security risks involved with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
A story about a British sex study was the No. 1 news topic in the blogosphere last week while news of an elitist dating site led on Twitter. On YouTube, a Brazilian news anchor got himself into trouble for making insulting comments he thought were private.
Social media responded strongly to the tragic earthquake that shattered Haiti last week. Beyond conveying information and first-hand accounts, Twitter became central in the effort to raise funds through text-messaging to help relief organizations. On YouTube, surveillance videos gained widespread attention.
The failed terror attack on NWA Flight 253 led the news on blogs, Twitter and in the mainstream press last week. The online community debated everything from who to blame for the close call to the impact on airline travel. On YouTube, a spectator’s view of a Christmas Eve attack on Pope Benedict XVI generated the most views.
Overview of responses Background Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, has an even grander vision for what the web can be. He and his allies have been working through the World Wide Web Consortium on an evolving initiative they call the semantic web. Berners-Lee and co-authors wrote in Scientific American in […]
During a Christmas week when the Senate passed its version of health care reform, social media devoted more attention to the subject than it had at any time this year. Bloggers also focused on an international grassroots campaign. On Twitter, a Blackberry outage led the way, while on YouTube, questions about the attack on the Italian Prime Minister drew significant attention.
The shooting of a controversial abortion provider triggered far more attention in social media last week than in the mainstream press, with advocates on both sides of the polarizing issue weighing in on the implications. Meanwhile, the most viewed news video on YouTube put the spotlight on an unlikely overnight sensation.