TVB rolled out new research results at Wednesday’s 2013 TVB Forward confab in New York, pouring cold water on notions that social media is now driving what Americans talk about. Rather, it was something seen on TV that was cited by 55% of people that was the most likely to spark a conversation – three times more than anything else. online survey of 2,011 adults 18+ included reports of some 9,000 conversations that had taken place in the prior 24 hours. And while there may be a growing perception that people are communicating via text messages and social media, the survey found that 77% of conversations still take place face-to-face. 15% were by phone and only 8% via all online communication methods. It’s not surprising that news, weather, sports and traffic are the top conversation starters. But reported the survey findings that it’s not national news and information that people talk to each other about most, but rather things that hit close to home. The main source of that home-front information is local TV news (47%), with local TV station apps second at 17%. Local TV newscasts are apparently big conversation starters. The study found that topics for “news of the day” conversations came 25% from local TV, 17% from national network TV news and 11% from cable news networks. Local broadcast was not only tops for adults 25-54, but 18-24 as well. There was good news for local advertisers as well. The people surveyed said they were more likely to have their interest sparked by an ad in a local newscast than by one seen on cable news.m/bl