Social Media Leads with Sex and Love

During a week when the mainstream press was consumed with issues of terrorism and national security, the online community wrapped itself up in sex and dating. A BBC report about a scientific sex study, along with controversial actions taken by a selective online dating site, spurred reaction from people in the blogosphere and in social media.

It was an example of how the less restricted and more personal nature of social media can facilitate a conversation unlikely to occur in traditional media. From January 4-8, 16% of the news links in blogs were about a sex study conducted by researchers at King's College in London, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.