Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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Two different topics grabbed the attention of social media last week to an extent rarely seen in the New Media Index. On blogs, a BBC report questioning global warming triggered a mostly enthusiastic response while the strange saga of “balloon boy” led on Twitter. On YouTube, a speech by a pop singer at a political rally was the most viewed video.
For much of the week, news of an email scam that compromised thousands of passwords animated the blogosphere. Late in the week, however, the focus shifted abruptly to Barack Obama’s surprising Nobel Peace Prize. On YouTube, meanwhile, a Letterman mea culpa drew the most hits.
Is Google making us stupid? Most experts surveyed in a new Pew Internet/Elon University study say the Internet enhances and augments human intelligence.
The Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life held a conference call with journalists to discuss the findings of a new 19-country survey, “Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa.” The study finds that the vast majority of people in many sub-Saharan African nations are deeply committed to Christianity or Islam, […]
People who use modern information and communication technologies have larger and more diverse social networks, according to new national survey findings that for the first time explore how people use the internet and mobile phones to interact with…
Conclusion Our findings suggest that the extent of social isolation in America is not as high as has been reported through prior research. Today, the number of Americans who are truly isolated is no different, or at most is only slightly higher than what it was 30 years ago. Few people have no one with […]
Health care or zombies and cocaine? In the debate over which is better fodder for discussion, social media last week chose the latter pair—a simulation of a worldwide zombie attack and traces of cocaine on much of the U.S. currency. On YouTube, though, confrontations from the health care town hall meetings captured the most eyeballs.