pew

Maybe today's youth aren't as different as older generations when it comes to tech.

A new report by Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism looks at how different people use their smartphones and tablets to consume news. It finds that younger users are just as likely to get news on those gadgets as older folks.

"While they are much lighter news consumers generally and have largely abandoned the print news product, young people get news on mobile devices to similar degrees as older users," the report reads. "And, when getting news through … Read more

People are now using their cell phones for much more than talking. According to a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 85 percent of U.S. adults own a mobile phone and 56 percent of them use it to get online.

"Fully 85 percent of American adults own a cell phone and now use the devices to do much more than make phone calls," Pew's Maeve Duggan and Lee Rainie wrote in the recently released study. "Cell phones have become a portal for an ever-growing list of activities."

The data is … Read more

Parents are more worried about advertisers having access to their children's online data than about their children talking to strangers online, according to a report published today.

The Pew Internet Project and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University collaborated on the report, which is based on a survey if 802 parents of children aged 12 to 17 with questions about social-networking sites, namely Facebook. As more and more teens and pre-teens use social media as a part of their every day communications , the study finds that parents worried about a variety of online dangers -- … Read more

Check out your Facebook news feed and see opinion, links to news articles, and dialogue all concerning the presidential election and campaign. Twitter? There's more than enough there to to keep you occupied.

And it seems like it may be a phenomenon that is here to stay.

A recent research report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project says that "the use of social media is becoming a feature of political and civic engagement for many Americans." Sixty percent 2,253 U.S. adults surveyed use social-networking sites including Facebook and Twitter, and of these users, … Read more

The Internet is continuing to erode TV, radio, and newspapers as the source of news for Americans. According to the latest Pew Research Center survey covering the changing news landscape, the proliferation of mobile devices and social networks is accelerating the shift to online news consumption. In the survey, 39 percent said that they got their news online, up from 33 percent two years ago. 

Only TV surpasses online as a news source today. Among 18- to 29-year-olds, one-third watched some TV news, down from 49 percent in 2006.  Among those under 30, … Read more

It turns out over half of U.S. mobile users are paranoid about their privacy -- not that they don't have reason to be. According to a new survey by the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project, 57 percent of mobile app users have either uninstalled or refused to install apps because of privacy concerns.

"Many cell phone users take steps to manage, control, or protect the personal data on their mobile devices," wrote the survey's authors, Jan Lauren Boyles, Aaron Smith, and Mary Madden. "More than half of mobile application users … Read more

While Mitt Romney is getting better at harnessing the power of the Internet for campaigning, the current POTUS still dominates the online world.

President Barack Obama's campaign has used more direct digital messaging than Romney's campaign, according to a Pew Research Center report released today.

The report notes Romney's attempts to catch up to Obama's tech savvy, with Romney's most recent stunt involving the announcement of his VP pick via an app. The report also mentions Obama's 2008 sucess with social media campaigning.

The research -- part of the center's studies over the … Read more

Half of all adult cell phone users surveyed by Pew Research use their cell phones while watching TV, a revelation that could drive more interactive advertising for TV viewers.

According to the Pew study, which surveyed 2,254 people in March and April of this year, 52 percent of all cell phone owners said they had used their mobile devices to do a variety of things while watching TV.

What exactly were these folks doing with their cell phones while watching TV? About 38 percent said they used their phones to keep them occupied during commercial breaks. And 23 percent … Read more

A little more than half of Internet stakeholders surveyed by Pew Internet expected -- or more likely were optimistic about -- a future with greater corporate responsibility when it comes to supporting human rights through technology, according to a study released today (PDF).

The study highlights the ongoing discussion of the tech industry's role in politics, activism, and freedom speech. Recent news highlighting growing discontent of censorship and unethical business practices further push the issue.

The study examined how far tech companies will go to help oppressive governments when it comes to controlling access to technology or following unethical … Read more