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Pew: Technology Hasn't Made Us Hermits

Good news, people: according to the latest info from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, we're not turning into a bunch of grouches who want to do little besides stare at computer screens.  As it took statistics dating back to 1985 into account, Pew even found a couple of instances in which technology seems to have made folks more sociable over the years.

Internet Major Resource For Political News

More than half of Americans used the Internet as a political resource during the 2008 election, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Some 55 percent of adults and 74 percent of all Internet users went online for news and information about the election or to communicate with others about the race. Nearly half (45%) of Americans watched online videos related to politics or the election. Young adults led the way in their online video consumption, with close to half of all 18-29 year olds watching online political videos.

Online Journalists Optimistic About Future

Online journalists are more optimistic about the future of their profession than those who work in traditional media, according to a new survey by the Online News Association and the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. A majority of those surveyed (57%) say the Internet is " changing the fundamental values of journalism." The biggest changes, the respondents said, were a loosening of standards (45%), more outside voices (31%) and an increased emphasis on speed (25%).

Interesting Statistics Of Who Is Using Twitter

Speaking of gold mines, Twitter is sitting on a huge one–if it could just figure out how to refine it into something we’d buy.

Social Networks, Not Just For Kids Anymore

From the outset Facebook was a bit more grownup than MySpace, which has been, at least according to Internet legend, the teen realm. But as of the end of 2008, grownups have pretty much raided all of the social networks. Recently, one teen I know lamented that his friends at school preferred Facebook. “MySpace is better,” he said. “They let you customize your page and there aren’t as many old people there.”

Internet Surpasses Newspapers

It’s probably no coincidence so many newspapers shut down or went online only. Let 2008 be marked as the first year more people went online than went to their front porch to get the news.

More Adults Adopt Texting To Contact Kids

Texting has been commonplace among younger people for a while but it is now leading to older adults adopting the practice as well, according to new research from Sprint.The number of adults who are texting has increased from just two years ago, when a Pew Research study found that 13 percent of adults ages 50-64 used the text messaging function on their mobile phone. Sprint found that now 20 percent of adults ages 55-64 send text messages.

Pew: Newspapers Circling The Wagons

The newspaper industry is at a crossroads, and a fresh report from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism confirms this beyond all doubt.  What's interesting is that industry experts have a hard time agreeing on whether the intersection is good or bad, and whether to praise or blame the Internet's role in shaping it.

More Than Half Of Americans Have Broadband Connections

Over half (55%) of all adult Americans now have a high-speed Internet connection at home, according to a new survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.The percentage of Americans with broadband has increased from 47 percent in early 2007 and 42 percent in early 2005. Of those who access the Internet at home, 79 percent have a high-speed connection and 15 percent use dialup.Adults who live in households whose annual incomes are less than $20,000 a year, home broadband adoption was at 25% in early 2008, compared to 28 percent in 2007.

The Internet's Influence For Home Buyers

Just what we want to hear - bad news about the housing market, but this time online. Turns out online searches didn’t have as significant impact on homebuying or renting decisions as we may have hoped. That doesn’t necessarily mean real estate sites should pull back their budgets though.