Social Media & the News

The reaction to the first presidential debate was better for Barack Obama in social media than in the traditional press, where the consensus was that Mitt Romney had won handily. But the sentiment differed by social media platform and generally criticism was more plentiful than praise.

During what may prove a key period in the race for president, the candidates received very different treatment on Twitter, Facebook and blogs than in the mainstream media, a new PEJ study finds. The candidates each enjoyed a bounce in mainstream media treatment during their conventions. By contrast, social media showed little change, and the discourse was highly negative.

On the eve of the conventions, Barack Obama holds a distinct advantage over Mitt Romney in the way his campaign is using digital technology to communicate directly with voters. The Obama campaign is posting almost four times as much content and is active on nearly twice as many platforms, according to a new study analyzing the content and volume of candidate communications on their websites and social media channels.

The conversation on Twitter about the Penn State scandal has shifted focus over the last month from the man convicted of sexual abuse to the school and then to the NCAA. But one constant in the conversation has not budged—views of Joe Paterno.

News is becoming a major part of what Americans watch on YouTube. In the last 15 months, a third of the most searched terms on the video sharing site were news related. A new study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism explores the character of news on YouTube.

Users of Twitter, Facebook and blogs weighed in heavily on the Supreme Court Health Care ruling last week. PEJ examines the sentiment on each of the three social media platforms, how that sentiment shifted in the days that followed the ruling and the degree to which users delved into implications for the presidential contenders.

The Facebook IPO was a hot topic on blogs, Twitter and Facebook last week with doubts about the stock’s value exceeding bullishness on the investment.  And the topics of conversation—which ranged from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s wedding to co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s citizenship—varied by social media platform.

Lee Rainie will discuss the Project’s latest findings about how people use the internet, smartphones, and social media tools to get news, share news, and create news.

Despite the growing importance of social media, just 9% of digital news consumers say they “very often” follow news recommendations from Facebook or Twitter on any of the three main types of digital devices (computers, smartphones or tablets).

It took several weeks after the killing of teenager Trayvon Martin before the story exploded in the media. A new PEJ report reveals how social and mainstream media platforms focused on different elements of the controversy and how ideology influenced coverage on the cable and radio talk shows.