From digital dads to social media mavens, children redefine how parents and kids communicate using traditional and new media. Just ask the eight-year-olds using cell phones—and not for phone calls alone!

While traditional methods such a newspaper and magazine ads still have their place, New Zealanders like many others now go online for a large portion of their research.

If you’re in the U.S. and are using a social network like Facebook, Myspace or LinkedIn, chances are you’re more affluent and more urban than the average American.

The evolution of the three screens that distribute video – TV, Internet and mobile phones – has created challenges and opportunities for consumers, programmers and marketers alike.

Social media has not only transformed how consumers shop, but it has empowered them to advocate for the products and stores they love. Retailers need to communicate in a way that encourages trust, engagement, customer satisfaction and, ultimately, advocacy.

Hopes rose for a comeback in the U.S. housing market with recent announcements that new home sales rose again in July, posting the highest numbers since September 2008.

Melissa Davies, Healthcare Research Director, Online Division
Just as the offline conversation about health care reform is growing in the U.S., we are watching the online discussion grow and evolve as well. In the past month, health care reform discussions have increased by more than 1,000 percent, outpacing the online talk surrounding Swine Flu and the government’s “Cash for Clunkers” program.

President Obama is keenly aware of the important role that bloggers play in sharing information about health care reform. On July 20, the President called for bloggers to help drum up …

Rebecca Bley, Research Analyst, Nielsen Company
“Life moves pretty fast,” Ferris Bueller warned us. “If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Director John Hughes managed to capture slices of that fast-moving life on film, offering iconic, relatable characters like Ferris and the Breakfast Club kids to an entire generation. When he died suddenly on August 6, the Internet mourned the loss of a great voice in Hollywood. On the day after his death, Hughes was the most-discussed person on the Internet, according …

Interview by Sue MacDonald, Research Manager, Online Division
In a difficult economy of rising unemployment, struggling newspapers and advertising agency cutbacks, Alexa Robinson graduated this year from the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill with a degree in… journalism and advertising. But she wound up finding a position that carried an entirely new job title — one that didn’t even exist when she started at UNC — “Twintern.”
As Pizza Hut’s first-ever Twitter intern (Twitter + intern, hence, “Twintern”), the 22-year-old Greensboro NC native has been on the job in Dallas since late …

The notion that teens are too busy texting and Twittering to be engaged with traditional media is exciting, but false. To develop the best strategy around teens and media, start by challenging popular assumptions about teens.