On Social Media, A Conversation About Race

The often explosive issue of race became a common thread in social media last week as two very different kinds of stories generated passionate conversations. For the second straight week, the February 26 shooting death of African American teenager Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman was a widely discussed topic. From March 26-30, it was the No. 1 topic on Twitter and No. 3 on blogs, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

In addition, a video connected to the case was the most-viewed news clip on YouTube last week. On Twitter last week, the largest storylines in the discussion were outrage that no arrest has been made in the case and sympathy for Martin and his family. "Don't ask. Demand justice for 17 year old Trayvon Martin's family," retweeted many users. "Heart goes out to Trayvon Martin's family, that was completely unnecessary," wrote Sir, Amit Bakshi. On blogs, the racial element of the story was the top theme in the conversation, given Martin's race and questions that have arisen about the racial attitudes of Zimmerman, a Hispanic man. The commentary on blogs and Twitter was largely in keeping with the findings of an earlier PEJ study that tracked the response to the controversial case from March 17-28. That report found that calls for justice (21% of the conversation) and sympathy for the victim (19%) were the top themes on Twitter while the racial issue (15%) was the leading topic on blogs.

(April 4)