Lot of growth in people relying on internet for political info
early days (1996) population was small, predominantly white, male, young, upper income
now looks like a lot more like the rest of america
53% now male – then 63%
median age in 1996 – 33
median age in 1996 – 39
women and minorities have grown as well
relative value has doubled from 1996 to now (where people get primary source for political info)
2004 – 1/5 said internet was a cruicial source
one line that continues to go up as an important source
broadband spread a big part of it
1/3 of growth can be explained by bband
cohort of people who now say the internet is as important as tv
tv used to be dominant
bband users under the age of 35 just as likely to cite internet as TV
internet more important than newspapers for some
other things going on
relates to how people think of the internet
cite convenience
thinking of internet as different realm
highly forensic quality to the kinds of searches they are doing
will go to primary sources
like transparency
google and other places make it more easy to find than other sources
more expanded notion of what news is and where news comes from
people like the internet for local news, but local news and local politics not so much
as internet matured, as population shifts
people not really liking local news online
mystery why the local politics isn’t clicking they way they thought it would
political videos important now and rising source of political info
15% of entire internet population have accessed political videos
web2.0 – will grow phenomenally in this election cycle
creating and sharing – 14 mil people were content creators the last time
Pew hasnt done direct research with wireless and politics – but IT WILL MATTER
wirelessness itself encourages you to get more news and more connections
factor in politics
as we begin to talk to teenagers about online life and diggital media use – they no loinger have in their head the categories – dont think of it as sep between real and virtual life – comfortable thinking this is life – horserace notion that tv vs. internet will fade – world is mushing together in ways that older categories dont make sense
when they are not with the device they love, they love the devise they are with
not in the world they want want to participate and get involved