Publications

Social media is simply the current expression of patient activation and engagement. But this time e-patients are part of a larger cultural change that assumes access to information, enables communication among disparate groups, and expects progress.

A substantial minority of Muslims in Nigeria say that violence against civilians in defense of Islam can sometimes or often be justified.

As of December 2009, 74% of American adults (ages 18 and older) use the internet.

This week’s News Coverage Index examines the agenda in one media sector—daily newspapers. And it reveals that the unanswered questions about the attempted bombing of a U.S. airliner were still dominating coverage a week after the event occurred. Meanwhile, the state of the economy was the week’s second-biggest topic.

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.

Summary of Findings The troubled economy and efforts to revamp the nation’s health care system dominated the public’s news interest in 2009. From the year’s start, Americans kept a close watch on the unfolding economic crisis, as well as Barack Obama’s efforts to grapple with the crisis while trying to make good on campaign promises. […]

As Americans begin a new year, nearly six-in-ten say this decade will be better than the last 10 years.

By roughly two-to-one, more say they have a generally negative rather than a generally positive impression of the 2000s.

17% of teens who pay for all of the costs associated with their cell phones send sexually suggestive images via text.