Internet & Technology

Some critics have assailed Time magazine’s choice for 2006 Person of the Year in recent days, calling the editors’ selection of “You” with a mirror on the cover gimmicky. But this wasn’t the first unconventional choice for Time’s honor – or the first time a group of people was selected. PEJ takes stock of Time’s past Persons of the Year from 1927 on.

It’s that time of year again, when data-hungry researchers and citizens get the early Christmas gift of the Statistical Abstract of the United States.

A two-year-old experiment in shrinking the global village, Global Voices features bloggers who often write about parts of the world that are ignored by the mainstream media. In this PEJ interview, co-founder Ethan Zuckerman talks about the promise of the blogosphere and some of the problems with traditional journalism.

Nearly two in five adult internet users in the U.S. (39%) have gone online to look for information about a place to live, up from 34% in 2004 and 27% in 2000.

Now that the election is long past and the Mark Foley scandal is perhaps a slightly less inflammatory subject, we can address some of the inquiries that we’ve gotten about young people and instant messaging.

More than half of internet users have taken virtual tours -- nearly doubling the number who had done so in late 2004.

How did the news media fare on Nov. 7? A PEJ study of 32 different media outlets on Election Day offers “five lessons” about the coverage of major breaking- news events in the multi-media era, and a “sector-by-sector” breakdown. While some outlets struggled to find their role, those that combined both speed and interactivity seemed the most useful destinations.

More than half of internet users have taken virtual tours -- nearly doubling the number who had done so in late 2004.

Some 12% of internet users say they have downloaded a podcast so they can listen to it or view it at a later time.

Any system being designed for consumers should take advantage of two trends: the centrality of search and the importance of peer advice (whether via email, social networking sites, blogs, or other emerging technologies). Both trends are likely to ...