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The Washington Post's E.J. Dionne and MSNBC political analyst Charlie Cook debate the role of health care in the presidential race.

By M. Alex Johnson, msnbc.com

Most social media users approve of the Supreme Court's health care ruling last week but believe it will help Republicans in the November election, according to msnbc.com's computer-assisted analysis of tens of thousands of posts on Twitter and Facebook.

The court upheld nearly all of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on a 5-4 vote Thursday. The consensus in news reports and among political pundits was that the ruling was a major victory for President Barack Obama.

But among people who use social networking sites, 56 percent of those who stated a clear opinion on the decision's political impact said they thought it was more likely to energize Republican voters in November. Forty-four percent said it was likely to be more helpful for Democrats.

(Msnbc.com analyzed 175,000 Twitter and Facebook posts mentioning the ruling from midday Thursday through midday Monday. The analysis uses a tool called ForSight, a data platform developed by Crimson Hexagon Inc., which is used by many media and research organizations to gauge public opinion in new media. Crimson Hexagon reports a 3-percentage-point margin of sampling error for this type of online sentiment analysis.)

Overall, 60 percent of online commenters approved of the decision, with many of them telling stories abouthow it would have an immediate impact on their families.

Supreme Court upholds health care law Health care ruling could leave poorest Americans at greatest risk

Writing on Facebook, Cathy Weller of Cocoa Beach, Fla., described herself as "a fiscal conservative, libertarian leaning, social progressive." She wrote of losing her health insurance when she lost her job and the difficulty she had insuring herself because of her pre-existing condition cancer:

All of a sudden I found myself researching health insurance options. Imagine my surprise to find there were none. None. Not a few expensive ones, but none. It didn't matter if I was willing to pay $10,000 a month for health insurance, it was just not available to me, anywhere for any amount of money. This was the first time I personally came up against the issue of health insurance availability having worked constantly up to that point and always having employer offered insurance.

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Social media users see health care ruling as GOP boon

Doomed marriage ... Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, pictured in March 2011. Photo: Getty Images

His superstar status gave Scientology invaluable influence in Hollywood, but with a nasty-looking divorce looming, is Tom Cruise now a liability to the controversial Church?

Tom Cruise is 50 years old today. Actors and actresses who trade on their looks rarely enjoy passing this particular milestone, and Cruise has plenty of other reasons to feel miserable.

Hes stuck in rainy Iceland, filming a thriller, while his third wife, Katie Holmes, files for divorce and sole custody of their six-year-old daughter, Suri. At the weekend, his spokesman asked the media to respect the couples privacy. The tabloids thought about this for a split second before splashing with TOM AND KATIE TO DIVORCE - more details pages 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 20, 21.

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Couch jumping ... Cruise's antics on Oprah's couch raised eyebrows.

Why the hysteria? Cruise is one of Hollywood most bankable stars, but hes in the twilight of his career as a leading man. There used to be rumours that hes gay, but no one has ever stood them up. If showbusiness reporters wanted to out A-list stars, which they dont, then there are more obvious candidates.

But heres another headline from yesterday: CULT STALKS KATIE. The cult is Scientology, to which Tom Cruise has belonged since his twenties. The headline comes from the Sun, whose owner, Rupert Murdoch, took to Twitter on Sunday to describe the religion as something creepy, even evil.

Tom Cruise is not only the worlds most famous Scientologist but also one of its most powerful operatives. Some sources claim hes Number Two to David Miscavige, the leader of the organisation and best man at his wedding to Holmes.

Another PR disaster .... Cruise was infamously mocked in an episode of South Park.

The rest is here:
From Cruise control to loose cannon?

Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice posted bikini photos of herself to Twitter recently, sparking criticism.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- Did you know that Olympic track hopeful Lolo Jones is a virgin on the prowl for a date? Or that British swimmer Rebecca Adlington quit Twitter because meanies kept insulting her looks? The dirt that years ago would have been lost in the fray of the Olympic Games is now at the top of your Facebook feed.

In the lead-up to major sporting events, media have traditionally churned out human interest stories highlighting a softer side of the people we put on pedestals for their athletic prowess. We learn about their families, the obstacles they've overcome, their grueling diet and training regimen.

In the last few years however, with the rise of tabloid and citizen journalism, and of course social media, the story lines have changed. Now we read anecdotes about athletes deemed "too fat" for competition by Olympic bosses, no less. The human interest stories are still there, but as an information-obsessed population, our interests seem to have changed.

U.S. track and field star Lolo Jones.

As the lines of communication open up, the pressure to maintain a squeaky clean code of conduct increases, says professor David Rowe of the Institute for Culture and Society at the University of Western Sydney. Athletes unfamiliar with this pressure may find themselves under the microscope for what seems like a harmless joke.

Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice is no stranger to social media controversies. Last week, she tweeted a photo of herself wearing a low-cut bikini, a birthday gift from designer Ellie Gonsalves. The risqu shot drew instant criticism in the Twitterverse; one follower even called for her to be dropped from the Olympic team.

This isn't the first time the gold medalist has found herself in hot water. In 2008, the then-20-year-old posted a picture of herself in a skin-tight navy blue police uniform to her Facebook account. And in 2010, she called the South African rugby team a homophobic slur on Twitter after they lost to Australia.

Representatives for Rice declined to comment for this report.

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Olympians' social media pressure

02-07-2012 04:40 The UK has found another way to snoop into its citizens' affairs. Internet and phone companies are set to install so-called 'black boxes', which will monitor e-mails, social networking activity and calls, and store data for a year. The authorities insist that only limited details will be kept, but activists are raising privacy concerns. RT's Sara Firth has the details. Subscribe to RT! Watch RT LIVE on our website Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Google+ RT (Russia Today) is a global news network broadcasting from Moscow and Washington studios. RT is the first news channel to break the 500 million YouTube views benchmark.

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Big 'black box' bro to spy on UK mail

02-07-2012 07:42 As social media websites have grown as places for fun, games, and networking, they have also developed into valuable business platforms. In today's world, brands strive to get one more "like" on Facebook, retweet on Twitter, and +1 on Google+. The only problem with this interaction is figuring out what it means. Are consumers really engaging with the brand, and what is it that they want in return? These questions and others challenge brands everyday. According to Matt Warta, the CEO of GutCheck, companies shouldn't be bogged down with this worry. His company provides a platform that allows brands to really understand what their fans and followers are thinking. GutCheck has one tool that allows brands to get one-on-one with individuals and have in depth conversations to find out their exact needs. The company also rolled another tool earlier this year called Instant Research Communities that allows brands to communicate with groups of people in a social setting. "There's nobody else out there that can do what we do in the amount of time that we do it and at the price point that we have," said Warta. He went on to say that the company would continue to improve its platform to make sure that brands are getting the most relevant research through their social campaigns.

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GutCheck: Helping Brands Understand Social Signals in Real-Time - Video