A recent article in Wall Street Journal argued that social networking sites such as Facebook have some undesirable effects on friendships. One of the arguments made was that the ease with which information can be shared encourages sharing of banality that was previously usually kept for oneself.
One of the targets in both the article and comments were posts and tweets about consuming food and drinks.

Insofar as this is a sin, Zogby Interactive data suggest that not that many of us are sinners. 85% percent of our respondents who use Twitter said they have never twittered about food or drinks. Females tend to find these topic a little more interesting, with 18% saying they have done so (compared to 13% males).

Do you think that sites such as Facebook encourage banality in relationships? Do you tweet about food and drinks?

Zeljka communication, culture, internet, lifestyles, media twitter, work, zogby

In a recent Zogby interactive survey, we asked the respondents how they stay in touch with their family and friends both near and far. Here are the results. 

When we asked, “which one method is your favorite for keeping in contact with family and friends who live in the same geographic area as you live?” the top five choices are:

• Landline conversation (25%)
• Cellphone/Smartphone conversations (24%)
• Email (23%)
• Cellphone/Smartphone texting (13%)
• Facebook (10%). 

When we asked, “which one method is your favorite for keeping in contact with friends and family who live outside the geographic area where you live?” the ranking above changed to:

• Email (39%)
• Facebook (24%)
• Cellphone/Smartphone conversations (13%)
• Landline conversation (13%)
• Cellphone/Smartphone texting (6%)

Facebook made the top-5 list in both cases. Groups that prefer to stay in touch with their family and friends through Facebook are the 18-to-29 year olds (53%), respondents who do not own a house (43%), those who have a child under 17 years old (41%), and those living in small cities. Groups that are least likely to use Facebook as their favorite method for keeping in touch with friends and family are respondents who live in rural areas (16%), those over 50 years old (7%), and respondents who are divorced, separated or widowed (11%).

How do you stay connected with your friends and family? Which of the methods above is your favorite? Do you use Facebook and texting a lot to keep your friends and family updated? How frequently do you use them?

Grace Uncategorized, communication, internet, lifestyles, technology zogby

Some media outlets have recently reported that conservative groups have been more successful in utilizing twitter than liberal groups. This comes in contrast to recent history, where liberal bloggers and online communities have been thought to have played an instrumental role in the election of President Obama. On this view, the success of a political platform is, at least to some extent, due to new technology.

However, one can look at this from a different angle: the recent success of conservatives tweets may be due to a consolidation of conservative opposition to the administration policies. Likewise, it was a wide discontent with the Bush administration that lead to victory for Democrats, and the effects of new media were incidental to those more fundamental changes.

What is your view of the role of technology in political change? Are new technologies primarily a cause or effect of the rise and fall of political ideas?

Zeljka future, internet, media, politics, technology history, media, Obama, technology, twitter

I run a business that provides market research and opinion polling. Like every other business in the world, Zogby International has to keep up with technology or face extinction.

The technological threat facing people in my business is the rapid growth of cellphone users who do not have a landline. The solution is another pervasive tool: the Internet.

So writes John Zogby in his weekly column at Forbes.com that outlines why and how interactive polling may displace traditional phone surveys.

Paul future, internet economy, international, internet, John Zogby, media, technology, zogby

We’ve done a lot of polling recently on how people get their news and what sources they most trust. We wanted to find out more about why the Internet is in rapid ascendance, while newspapers are on the media endangered species list.
The results come from two Zogby Interactive surveys taken in the past month, one in conjunction with 463 Communications and the other a Zogby project. One question produced a particularly curious result.  We asked which of the four primary information sources was most reliable.

Go to John Zogby’s weekly column at Forbes.com  and read about why many people believe the Internet is the most reliable media source of information. Also, read more about our survey on the Internet and other media here.

Paul John Zogby, communication, internet, media communication, internet, John Zogby, media, television, zogby