For the second week in a row, the shooting death of Trayvon Martin was widely discussed with many focusing on the role of race in the incident.

The Republican presidential frontrunner was the target of significant criticism from bloggers last week in response to his remarks on Planned Parenthood and Rush Limbaugh as well as a column he wrote in 2009.

In social media, praise easily outweighed the criticism of controversial blogger and conservative political activist Andrew Breitbart after his passing late last week.

In the blogosphere last week, scientist Peter Gleick’s admission that he used a false identity to obtain global warming-related documents topped the news.

One particular performer at the February 12 Grammy ceremonies triggered a torrent of conversation in the social media last week. And much of that discussion included anger directed the awards, the singer and even some of his fans.

Last week, bloggers circulated a letter written more than a century ago from a former slave. Some in social media were able to use publicly available information on the web to investigate the veracity of the letter. On YouTube, three different videos featuring Russians became a news phenomenon.

With Facebook’s IPO filing, this special edition of the New Media Index examines the conversation about the company among bloggers and tweeters during the past three years.

Legislation aimed at combating online piracy drew the universal ire of social media users last week as a large January 18 protest put pressure on Congress to oppose the bills. And in what many observers called an unprecedented event, the online resistance actually forced the legislators into retreat last week.

Major changes came to Google’s Search last week and bloggers rallied largely to voice displeasure and concern. And Super Junior, the Korean pop group that has rabid fans across the world, continues to be a draw on Twitter.

Last week, liberal, libertarian and conservative bloggers debated the campaign of presidential candidate Ron Paul following the Iowa caucuses. And on YouTube, Paul supporters offered up their own theory about why a CNN interview suddenly went off the air.