Project for Excellence in Journalism

Tech-Filled Tweets

September 23, 2010

New developments in the tech world sometimes make mainstream news headlines, but they almost always generate major attention on Twitter. Last week was no exception, as Twitter was dominated by developments and new products for leading social networking sites -- not to mention the announcement of a Google social network.

For the week of Sept. 13-17, the top three stories on Twitter were about innovations by major players in the online world: Twitter, Google, and Facebook. Combined, they made up more than a third (36%) of the top news links, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

While a range of technology topics often lead Twitter's news agenda, last week's top stories were all focused on one very specific area: social media. Facebook, the preeminent social media tool, is reportedly still growing, especially internationally. Twitter, also a social networking tool, released a new layout last week. Google, an internet powerhouse, has struggled to create a successful social networking tool and the announcement of a planned social network from them could have a significant impact in this field.

As was the case last week, social media users often seem to function as announcers and reviewers of new online products.

A first look at the redesigned Twitter website from Wired's blog Epicenter was the top subject, with 15% of linked tweets. A number of Twitter users complained, however, that they did not yet have access to the new site.

Those who used the new Twitter site shared their thoughts with others, including @tasarial who tweeted this screen shot, and @Mrs_McFeealy, writing "New twitter is much more convient then the old one."* Others like @scottuses, made fun of it, saying, "You got the new twitter? How quaint. I'm already on the new new twitter. With lasers."

Google was the No. 2 subject, with 11% of tweeted links. The focus was a Sept. 15 Mashable article about Google Me, a new social networking site, expected to launch later this year. Most Tweets about Google Me linked to articles discussing it and few users opined on the issue.

The third subject (10% of links) was based on another Mashable article on Facebook's Places feature going live in the UK. The location feature allows users to check into real-world locations (similar to Foursquare) and was available in America a month ago.

Many Tweeters seemed concerned about what they saw as the intrusive nature of the feature. @iova grumbled, "Great Facebook Knows what I like who are my friends all my personal info and now where I am with Facebook places! Get out of my life!" And @thehacksaw joked "Somewhat expecting tomorrow's headlines to read ‘Facebook Places launched, house burglaries up 400%.'"

The No. 5 Twitter subject (at 6%) was another story about a new technology product: Bitbop, a new Android application that can bring streaming TV shows to smartphone users over 3G or Wi-Fi.

The one top-five Twitter story (9% of links) that was not about technology focused on a BBC article about a British sportscaster's complaint that a TV show made an inappropriate comment about her sexual identity.

Continue reading thefull report at journalism.org.

_{*For the sake of authenticity, PEJ has a policy of not correcting misspellings or grammatical errors that appear in direct quotes from blog postings.}