What's the mechanism that makes a political video go viral? What causes a video clip to spread from a few people to millions, sometimes in a matter of hours? Is it a top-down process led by elite gatekeepers or bottoms up, driven by people at the grass roots? And how do blogs affect the life cycle of a viral video? Read more »
Fast food and sweets advertised when children watch television
Children in Sweden are exposed to a huge number of TV advertisements. Food adverts – primarily for fast food and sweets – dominate the advertisements shown during children's viewing times. Research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows that Sweden is no different from other countries when it comes to the number of adverts that children are exposed to. Read more »
Scientists map what factors influence the news agenda
Computer scientists have analyzed over a million news articles in 22 languages to pinpoint what factors, such as the Eurovision song contest, influence and shape the news agenda in 27 EU countries. This is the first large-scale content-analysis of cross-linguistic text using artificial intelligence techniques. Read more »
Understanding consumer behavior: Make them think it was their idea or decision?
Consumers value goals they've chosen on their own more than those that are imposed on them, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "When people believe they have autonomously chosen to pursue a goal themselves, they feel the goal is increasingly valuable as they put in more effort, because they experience their own effort as signaling how much they care about it," write authors Ying Zhang (University of Texas at Austin), Jing Xu, Zixi Jiang (both Peking University), and Szu-chi Huang (University of Texas at Austin). Read more »
Large gaps found in public understanding of climate change
Sixty-three percent of Americans believe that global warming is happening, but many do not understand why, according to a national study conducted by researchers at Yale University. Read more »
Most influential tweeters of all
Tweet this, Ashton Kutcher, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears. Just because you have a ton of followers on Twitter doesn't necessarily mean you're among the most influential people in the Twitterverse, according to researchers from Northwestern University. Read more »
Medical TV causes fear of sickness and lower satisfaction with life
Watching television and its heavy dose of medical content in news and drama can lead to more concern about personal health and reduce a person's satisfaction with life according to a new study out of the University of Rhode Island. Read more »
Scientists discover the links between physical attractiveness and female body measurements
Scientists in Australia and Hong Kong have conducted a comprehensive study to discover how different body measurements correspond with ratings of female attractiveness. The study, published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, found that across cultural divides young, tall and long armed women were considered the most attractive. Read more »
Television Drove Viewers to the Web to Explore Obama-Muslim Rumors
A study examining Americans’ interest in the rumor that Barack Obama is a Muslim shows that the mainstream media – particularly television – still influences the topics that engage the public. Researchers found that online searches about the Obama-Muslim rumor spiked on days that the topic was heavily covered on national television networks, and that searches declined on days when there was less coverage. Read more »
For Teens, Early Sex and Media Exposure Not Linked
The prevalence of sex in the mainstream media has led many researchers to study its effect on impressionable adolescents. Several published, peer-reviewed studies have indicated that there is a link between exposure to sex in the media and the early onset of sexual activity among teens. However, a study led by Temple psychologist Laurence Steinberg questions these findings. Read more »