Politicians, Blogs and Issue Debates

Tech News World has an article today about the role of the Internet in the energy debate. They interviewed our very own Erin Teeling about whether politicians were using the Internet to discuss energy issues with their consituents. The short answer is that they are not – most political sites are focused on disseminating information to constituents in a top down fashion,...

The Use of the Internet by America’s Newspapers

Update: We've issued a call for help in conducting research in additional countries.  Learn how you can help.

After the success of our recent study, The Internet's Role in Political Campaigns, we decided to perform a study on America's newspapers. It is widely known that America's newspapers are suffering from declining readership and circulation....

Pew Charitable Trust Report on Bloggers

In an attempt to provide a “portrait” of American bloggers, the Pew Internet and American Life Center put out yet another study on the weblog phenomenon. Key takeaways are as follows:

• 12 million Americans keep a blog
• 57 million Americans read blogs
• 37% of Americans who blog use their lives and experiences as inspiration for entries
• 11% of American bloggers say they focus mainly on writing about politics and government
...

Blogging Shut Down in India

The New York Times reported yesterday that in the wake of the bombings in Mumbai, the Indian government has effectively ordered ISPs to block a number of domains, including “*.blogspot.com” (Blogger),”*.typepad.com”(Typepad) and “geocities.com/*” (Yahoo! Geocities), citing that terrorists might use blogs to coordinate attacks. Yahoo! Groups has also been blocked....

Some Quick Hits

Here are some quick takes on a few items I’ve come across in the news the last few days:

(1) The average online news story receives half of its page views within the first 36 hours of being posted, according to a new study by the University of Notre Dame....