Climate Change Debate Rages Online

Global warming has of late been a very hot topic in social media, and last week it was hotter than ever. Much of the added fuel came from climate change believers who engaged in the debate that had been dominated by skeptics. From December 7-11, more than half (52%) of the news links in blogs were about global warming, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. That represents the most attention to the subject in any given week this year, and marks the third week in a row that global warming has been among the top four subjects in blogs. It was also prominent on Twitter last week, registering as the No. 3 topic with 14% of the news links. And while mainstream media has generally covered the issue less than social media, global warming filled 10% of its newshole last week, the highest level of coverage since PEJ's News Coverage Index began tracking it in January 2007.