Smartphone Speculation Soars on Social Media

One of the subjects that fascinates social media users is news about technological innovation. Last week was no exception as rumors about new smartphones-one from Apple and perhaps one from Facebook-triggered intense speculation and some high-tech sleuthing on blogs and Twitter.

For the week of May 28-June 1, the No. 2 subject on blogs was news about Apple, with some of it focusing on the expected release of the iPhone 5. And on both blogs and Twitter, news of a possible Facebook phone in the offing registered as the No. 3 topic, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. The Facebook speculation was driven by a New York Times story, citing anonymous Facebook employees, suggesting the company hopes to release a smartphone by next year. The news about the iPhone came from an Apple news site that appeared to provide some visual evidence about how the next version would look.