Thursday, October 13, 2011

Pew Internet News: Social Media and Civic Life; Share your thoughts about the future of the internet

Share your thoughts: Take our new "Future of the internet" survey!

We are conducting our new survey about the future of the internet now and we’d love you to participate as a respondent. The survey can be found here:

http://survey.fs.elon.edu/surveys/UHMY4Q

The topics include the internet’s impact on teen and young adult development, the future of universities, the behavior of tech corporations in authoritarian countries, the future of money, the reach of “gamification,” the impact of “big data” and several other topics.

The survey is similar in format to our previous work. We ask experts and avid followers of the internet to answer questions about alternative scenarios for thThe future of the internet - Surveye way technology will evolve and affect people over the next decade. After you’ve chosen a scenario, we hope you’ll explain your answer more elaborately by completing a narrative portion of the survey.

In all, we hope the survey will take 15-20 minutes to complete. And we hope you like it enough to recommend it to your friends!


Previous "Future of the internet" reports include:

 
Report: How people learn about their local community

While local TV news remains the most popular source for local information in America, adults rely on it primarily for just three subjects—weather, breaking news and to a lesser extent traffic. And for all their problems, newspapers (both print and on the web) are the source Americans turn to most for a wider range of information than any other source, according to a new Local newssurvey out today.

The internet has a strong hold in the local community as well. Web-only outlets are now the key source of information on some key subjects such as education or local business and restaurants. And greater disruption seems to lie ahead. For the 79% of Americans who are online, as well as Americans ages 18-39, the internet ranks as a top source of information for most of the local subjects studied in the survey.

These are among the findings of a new a new study produced by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Pew Internet & American Life Project in partnership with John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The survey looks in a new and detailed way at how people learn about community by breaking down local information into 16 key topic areas. The result is a more nuanced understanding of the role each media plays in a community.
 

Pew Internet research in the news

Flashback to 2005: HuffPost, YouTube launched; Podcasts proliferate; ‘Print Needs Its Own iPod’
Poynter.org, October 10
 
A quizzical response to the new bar codes
Boston Globe, October 8

Congress still a bit short on social media savvy

Associated Press, September 29

Recent presentations:

The new pathways to purchase in the world of networked consumers  [SLIDES]  »  Director Lee Rainie lectured at New York University about the impact of digital technologies on the ways that people get advertising and relate to corporations. He discussed how the environment for ad messaging has changed in a world where many technology users expect to be able to monitor brands, chat with corporate representatives, and use social media to describe their shopping experiences and the quality of their purchases. You can view or download his slides here.

Social Media and Civic Life  [SLIDES]  »  Lee Rainie presented findings about the role of the internet, cell phones, and social media on civic life. He noted that those who use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for political and civic purposes are much more engaged with offline civic activities and more satisfied with their communities. You can view or download his slides here.

See all upcoming presentations »

Contact Us:

Pew Internet
1615 L St NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036

Add us to your address book

About us:

The Pew Internet & American Life Project is an initiative of the Pew Research Center, a nonprofit "fact tank"that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. The Pew Internet & American Life Project explores the impact of the internet on children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care and civic/political life. Support for the project is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.