Online Community and Connection in America
Nearly four-in-ten U.S. adults are in an online community. These virtual third spaces can take many forms, like Facebook groups, online video games or fandom forums on Reddit.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Read our research on:
Social Media
What Do Health and Wellness Influencers Post About?
Just over half of health and wellness content on social media focuses on healthy living, while about a third discusses medical topics. And 38% of posts have a product or service promotion.
Across the Globe, People Increasingly Say Social Media Is Harming Democracy
Most think social media leads to manipulation and division, but they also say it informs people and gives them a voice in politics.
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Social Media
Publications
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Partisan Conflict and Congressional Outreach
A new analysis of more than 200,000 press releases and Facebook posts from the official accounts of members of the 114th Congress uses methods from the emerging field of computational social science to quantify how often legislators themselves “go negative” in their outreach to the public.
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Americans and Cybersecurity
Many Americans do not trust modern institutions to protect their personal data – even as they frequently neglect cybersecurity best practices in their own personal lives.
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Record shares of Americans now own smartphones, have home broadband
Here are four key trends illustrating the current technology landscape in America.
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How America Changed During Barack Obama’s Presidency
Pew Research Center President Michael Dimock examines the changes – some profound, some subtle – that the U.S. experienced during Barack Obama’s presidency.
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TV still the top source for election results, but digital platforms rise
Nearly nine-in-ten voters who followed the 2016 returns (88%) did so on TV, while 48% used online platforms; 21% used social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.
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Social Media Update 2016
The share of Americans who use Facebook is on the rise: 79% of online adults use the platform, more than double the share that uses Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram or LinkedIn.
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Social media causes some users to rethink their views on an issue
Exposure to a range of new ideas and viewpoints that many social media users encounter can occasionally cause people to change their minds about political issues or candidates.
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Sharing and on-demand services attract a small but active group of ‘super users’
The sharing and on-demand economy has grown in the U.S., and some Americans are “super users”: 7% have used six or more shared and on-demand online services.
