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Nearly every blog written is prompted by a news report in traditional mainstream media and fewer than one per cent are prompted by stories in social media, according to a new report.

The report by American think tank Pew Research Center appears to dispel a growing belief that blogs are becoming increasingly influential and, in some cases, dictating the news agenda. Just one story - the controversy over emails relating to global research that became known as Climategate - became a major item in the blogosphere before being picked up by traditional media one week later.

Pew's 'Project for Excellence in Journalism' analysed a full year of data on the top American news stories discussed and linked to in blogs and social media pages and seven months of data from Twitter.

It found that, in the broadest sense, the top news agenda in the blogosphere most often coincides with that of traditional media, with politics and foreign affairs leading the pack.

However, while the overall topic areas may converge, there is considerable divergence in the specific news events that garnered attention within the blogosphere.

In just 13 of the 49 weeks analysed did the blogosphere and traditional media share the same top story. Bloggers tend to gravitate towards events that affect personal rights and cultural norms, while traditional media news agendas are more eventdriven and institutional.

For example, while 12 per cent of all blogs discussed foreign affairs, the subjects ranged from the protests in Iran to the Christmas number one in the UK.

This focus on foreign affairs meant that BBC News was the site most often linked to by bloggers. Nearly one in four, 23 per cent, linked to the BBC, while 21 per cent cited CNN.com. Pew Research also found that 83 per cent of all blogger links were to text based stories rather than interactive pages, with multimedia components such as video or slide shows. Similarly, 87 per cent of all blogs linked to news reports rather than opinion pieces.

Ten per cent of all blogs related to science issues, such as offbeat research like that by scientists at University of Sussex which claimed cats have learned to manipulate owners' emotions by emitting specific types of purrs. Just two per cent of traditional media news relates to science.

A Twitter focus

Analysis of news coverage on Twitter between June 2009 and January 2010 found that 43 per cent of all tweets relate to technology, focussed on web-related topics with a heavy emphasis on Apple and Facebook, but especially Twitter. Indeed, one in five tweets related to Twitter issues, such as highlighting new tools for tracking posts or problems related to the retweet function.

But the vast majority of tweets that linked to news stories were not using Twitter to report or opine, but to alert fellow users to the content. Indeed, 82 per cent of tweets linked to straight news reports rather than opinion pieces or commentary, indicating that the social networking platform is used to share information rather than offer judgments.

The high proportion of tweets linked to news on foreign events during this period was almost exclusively related to the post election political protests in Iran. One of the most popular links was to a page entitled 'cyberwar for beginners', which explained how to help support the protest online by retweeting information from within the country without identifying the authors.

However, while President Obama's speech outlaying his plans for the war in Afghanistan dominated traditional media and the blogosphere last December, it did not register in the top five stories on Twitter. Instead, a photograph of a billboard of a television news channel featuring pictures of three anchors with a real-life Twitter feed embarrassingly reading 3 accused of gang rape in Monroeville dominated the Twitterverse.

On the Tube

In only eight of the 49 weeks studied, did the news agenda on YouTube coincide with that of traditional media. Three weeks involved footage related to discussions on the health care reform bill, while on two occasions the topic was the Iranian protests.

But the research found that the priorities for users of YouTube were not so much the issues of the day but what image or video was the most amusing to watch. In March 2009, for example, a video of an unidentified council meeting that was interrupted by the sounds of flatulence proved the most popular. Two months earlier, President Obama's inauguration garnered the most views.

However, 26 per cent of the top five most watched videos in a given week were about issues that occurred overseas - even those recorded in foreign languages - that had received little or no attention in the traditional American media.

But while top news videos could be watched millions of times in one week, they do not tend to stay popular for long. Just nine per cent of most watched YouTube videos remained in the top position for more than one week.

Producers of most linked to stories from blogs

• US newspapers/magazines 49%
• US broadcast 26%
• International broadcast* 23%
• International news/magazines** 2%
• US wire service <1%
• US web only <1%
• International web only <1%

* BBC; **Guardian (19 January 2009 - 15 January 2010)

Topics of news coverage on Twitter

• Technology 43%
• Foreign events (non US) 13%
• Politics/government 6%
• Crime 5%
• Celebrity 5%
• Science 5%
• Health and medicine 4%
• Environment 4%
• Pop culture 3%
• Oddball 3%

(15 June 2009 - 15 January 2010)

Topics of most viewed news videos on YouTube

• Foreign events (non US) 26%
• Government 20%
• Entertainment 8%
• Media 7%
• Health and medicine 6%
• Accidents/disasters 5%
• Other domestic affairs 4%
• US miscellaneous 4%
• Lifestyle 3%
• Crime 3%

(19 January 2009 - 15 January 2010)

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