Media & Society

The most prominent narrative in social media online last week shifted from the stimulus bill to a critique of Obama’s first month in office. While the economic crisis was still a large topic, a policy change at Facebook created an uproar that forced the site to then change course.

It wasn’t much of a honeymoon, at least so far. And nowhere did the discussion of the economic crisis and the new Administration seem to beat up the President more roundly than in the studios of cable talk shows and, of course, on the radio.

Bloggers and the mainstream media alike focused intently on one storyline last week. In its maiden edition, PEJ’s “New Media Index” examines the most discussed news on blogs, user news sites, and other social media and compares it to the mainstream media.

Barack Obama’s official transition to power swamped the news last week. And even that may understate the extent to which he commandeered the agenda, with an early edict on Gitmo and a full-court press on a stimulus package.

Yesterday's inauguration was the first to be fully digitized, annotated and archived online.

Fully 46% of all Obama voters expect to hear directly from Barack Obama or other officials affiliated with the new administration at least occasionally over the next year, and 15% of Obama voters expect to hear from the new administration on at least...

Voters expect that the level of public engagement they experienced with Barack Obama during the campaign, much of it occurring online, will continue into the early period of his new administration.

After a presidential race in which the internet played a huge role in empowering ordinary citizens to participate in the political process, change.gov offers a fascinating look into how the new administration is attempting to replicate this dynami...

For a host of reasons, the new administration needs to develop a national broadband strategy but research suggests that users must be central actors in its design.

There is no shortage of suggestions to the incoming Obama administration about what to do about communications policy in the United States. The body of research from the Pew Internet Project, dating to 2000, indicates that online Americans might have...