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Media Decoder: Top Social Topics in ’11: Bin Laden and Mubarak

January 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Osama bin LadenAssociated PressOsama bin Laden

Almost two-thirds of adults who used the Internet in 2011 also belonged to social networks, like Facebook and Twitter, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Most people said they adopted these tools to stay connected with relatives and friends, new and old, the Pew study found. But what were they saying and sharing, beyond a baby’s first words, prom photos and other personal status updates?

Facebook and Twitter, two of the largest social platforms, issued year-end lists last month that provide insight into the topics that drove the conversation in 2011.

Osama bin Laden topped the list of global topics discussed on Facebook, which has 800 million users worldwide. What ranked No. 2? It was not the royal wedding, or Kim Kardashian’s wedding (and breakup). It was the Green Bay Packers winning the Super Bowl. No. 3 was the news of Casey Anthony’s acquittal in the killing of her daughter, Caylee, 2.

At No. 4, Charlie Sheen’s well-documented problems surpassed conversation about the death of Steve Jobs. This put Prince William’s marriage to Kate Middleton in sixth place, ahead of the death of the British singer Amy Winehouse, the release of the video game Call of Duty MW3, military operations in Libya and Hurricane Irene.

The most shared article in the United States on Facebook, however, was a link from The New York Times showing a collection of satellite photos of Japan, before and after the earthquake and tsunami.

For Twitter users, the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt was the hottest news topic, followed by the raid in which Bin Laden was killed, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords and the killing of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in Libya.

The top hashtag in 2011 on Twitter was #egypt.

The ending of the final game of the FIFA Women’s World Cup prompted the most Twitter tweets per second in 2011. That is a metric Twitter uses to measure the intensity of conversation about a single event. There were 7,196 tweets per second for the end of the game, compared with the 5,106 per second generated by the killing of Bin Laden.

“The most-shared stories have a couple of things in common: They are subjects that are compelling or fascinating at a human-interest level,” said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project. “Most people don’t have conversations about the latest doings of Congress or the Federal Reserve Board; they talk about things with a human, often celebrity face on them. And these stories are almost always fueled by traditional media.”

Facebook also made top 10 lists of musicians, athletes, television shows and movies discussed on the platform. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” the final installment in the series, was the most-discussed movie. “House” was No. 1 on the list for television shows. “Pretty Little Liars” was the most-discussed television show on Twitter.

In sports Lionel Messi, the Argentine soccer star who plays for FC Barcelona, was the most-talked-about athlete on Facebook.

The top soccer player talked about on Twitter was Wayne Rooney of England.

The Facebook page with the most highly engaged audience in 2011? It was not Justin Bieber’s or Lady Gaga’s. The Jesus Daily, run by a doctor from North Carolina who posts inspiring words of Jesus from Scripture, maintained the top spot for most of the year.

“Spiritual groups are one of the oldest forms of social networks,” Mr. Rainie said. “They understood a fundamental truth about networks eons before the Internet existed: The most effective way to get things done and to survive is to form a community.”

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Bucks Blog: Chase Adopts Simplified Checking Disclosure

December 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Click to enlarge. (pdf)Click to enlarge. (pdf)

Chase has become the first big bank to voluntarily adopt a simplified, plain-language checking account disclosure, as proposed by an arm of the nonprofit group Pew Charitable Trusts.

It turns out, though, that banking disclosures can get only so simple. Chase wasn’t able to squeeze its disclosure onto a single page or box, as Pew originally proposed.  Rather, its form runs three pages and has seven footnotes.

That’s because Chase chose to be comprehensive and display all potential fees, and to give examples for more complex issues, a Chase spokesman, Patrick Linehan, said in an e-mail. (The form’s third page lists 10 miscellaneous fees, like $2 for using a “counter” check, which is an “emergency” check provided when you don’t have any of your own left in your checkbook.)

Plus, Mr. Linehan said, there is some language that the bank must use for regulatory reasons but that the Pew model form didn’t take into account.

Susan K. Weinstock, director of Pew’s Safe Checking in the Electronic Age project, which worked with Chase to create its new form, said Pew had developed its model form with an emphasis on clear terms and the most common fees. But in subsequent focus groups, she said, consumers indicated they wanted details about all fees, even if it meant a longer form. Chase’s form adheres to Pew’s goal of making the disclosure shorter and simpler, she said.  “The point is to make it transparent,” she said.

Even at three pages, Chase’s form is a vast improvement over the typical checking account disclosure, which a Pew study found runs about 111 jargon-filled pages.

The new form is part of a broader effort to better communicate with customers and to make sure they understand how Chase products work, said Ryan McInerney, head of consumer banking at Chase. “We want to significantly improve our customers’ experience,” he said.

Two credit unions, the North Carolina State Employees’ Credit Union and the Pentagon Federal Credit Union, have also voluntarily adopted simpler forms. (The credit unions did manage to use a one-page format).

Pew is urging the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to require that all banks adopt a simplified, standard form, and it has received support for its quest from some legislators.

The idea behind the new form is to make it easy for customers to see, in one place, the main features and costs of their account, so they can compare its terms with accounts at other banks, Ms. Weinstock said. While ideally the consumer protection agency would require that banks use such a form to make the disclosure standard, “We are thrilled these banks have done it,” she said. Several other smaller banks are expected to voluntarily adopt simpler forms shortly, she said.

A particularly important part of the simpler forms, she said, is an explanation of the various overdraft options available for accounts with debit cards and the costs associated with each, which can be confusing for consumers. Overdraft protection refers to the coverage of payments made when an account is overdrawn.

The forms also explain the bank’s policy governing the order in which transactions are processed. Some banks process debit transactions and checks in order of the highest amount to the lowest amount, which tends to maximize the potential for overdraft fees. Others have switched to “lowest to highest” order, or they process transactions in the order in which they occur.

Please take a look at the forms used by Chase and the credit unions and let us know if you find them helpful by posting your thoughts in the comments section.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=ee5dc4530eab73ede9d0cafddd1405eb

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Presidential Debates Influence Media, Study Shows

October 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Presidential candidate debates have a significant impact not just on voter sentiments but on media sentiments, according to a study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

The study, to be released on Monday, used computer software and with human judgment to assess the tone of news and opinion coverage of the 2012 presidential race and found that the debates “have coincided with some notable shifts in tone.” The coverage of Rick Perry, the Texas governor who entered the race relatively late, in August, became more measurably negative around the same time he was perceived to have performed poorly at a Fox News debate on Sept. 22.

Still, the Pew study found that Mr. Perry received the greatest proportion of positive coverage of any candidate May 2 through Oct. 9. The recipient of the greatest proportion of negative coverage was President Obama.

During no week in the five months studied was coverage of Mr. Obama more than 10 percent positive. On average, it was judged to be about 57 percent neutral and about 34 percent negative. “These numbers are very stark for Obama,” said Tom Rosenstiel, the director of the project. Even the week in early May that Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, was killed, the positive sentiments were far outnumbered by negative ones. “That was striking,” he said.

The finding was even more outstanding, he said, when compared to the general election cycle of 2008, when the Republican nominee, John McCain, garnered markedly more negative coverage than Mr. Obama.

This time around, several Republican candidates are criticizing Mr. Obama, “and that has a kind of cumulative effect,” Mr. Rosenstiel said.

The computer algorithms set up by Pew analyze text content from thousands of news sources, blogs, social media postings and, in limited cases, television transcripts. The fact that the algorithms sense that roughly half of all the source statements, even including quotes, are neutral “shows you how much straight, factual reporting there still is,” Mr. Rosenstiel said.

The study found that coverage of Mitt Romney, the constant in the Republican race, has been similarly constant — about one-quarter positive, one-quarter negative and one-half neutral. Coverage of Herman Cain, who was largely ignored by the media until recently, has turned more positive in recent weeks. “That’s because he tends to perform fairly well at these debates,” Mr. Rosenstiel said. Coverage of Michele Bachmann, meanwhile, has turned more negative recently.

The study will be repeated through the presidential election cycle to see how media coverage and online opinions shape perceptions of the race.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=dff95a9379931f261ebca19074d1fd96

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