Americans have nearly tripled the amount of time they spend using social networking sites and blogs like Facebook and Twitter. People who use those sites also tend to be more affluent.

Those are the findings of two new reports issued by Nielsen this week.

Last month 17 percent of all Internet usage was spent at a social networking site, up from 6 percent in August of 2008, one report says.

“This growth suggests a wholesale change in the way the Internet is used,” Jon Gibs, vice president, media and agency insights for Nielsen’s online division, said on the company’s Web site. “While video and text content remain central to the Web experience – the desire of online consumers to connect, communicate and share is increasingly driving the medium’s growth.”

The other study found that people who use social networking sites tend to also be more urban, as well as affluent. Facebook users were wealthier than MySpace users, the study found. However, it also noted that the blogging and tweeting community isn’t necessarily more affluent, just more urban.

More than 70 journalism organizations have lobbied Congress to pass the legislation. The proposed law would not protect reporters in cases of terrorism or witnessing a crime; and it would only apply to the federal courts, because most states have their own versions of shield laws.

But the Justice Department, along with some senators on both sides of the isle, is concerned that the law as proposed would prevent the government from prosecuting officials who leak national security information to the press.

Former New York Times reporter Judith Miller was jailed for 85 days in 2005 after she refused to identify who in the Bush administration revealed the identify of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Miller never publicly identified Plame as a spy. (Former columnist Robert Novak did.) But the public revelation of Plame’s identity led to the perjury and obstructing justice conviction of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

The House has passed its own version of the bill.

Perez Hilton

Maybe celebrity blogger Perez Hilton will be more responsible in the future. And maybe both bloggers and big media organizations will see how important it is to get the facts right in the age of Twitter.

Hilton caused a stir in Hollywood this week when he reported that actress Jaclyn Smith of “Charlie’s Angels” fame had attempted suicide.

Hilton posted this message on Twitter that raced along the Net at supersonic speed: “OMG! Jaclyn Smith suicide attempt! Tragic news! She’s in critical condition! Details coming ASAP!”

“This is so tragic!” Perez later wrote on his Web site. “According to reports we are getting from multiple sources in Latin America, Charlie’s Angels actress Jaclyn Smith attempted suicide on Tuesday while at her vacation house in Islas de la Bahia in Honduras on Tuesday. She was airlifted via helicopter to a hospital in San Pedro Sula, with a gun wound in her head. Smith is in critical condition.”

The problem is that it wasn’t true, as Smith notes herself on her Facebook page and on Twitter. Reuters identified the woman hospitalized in Honduras as Smith’s stunt double.

Twitter may not be making any money now, but a new deal that gives the company $100 million in additional funding is a sure sign that investors believe the Internet sensation is going to be wildly profitable.

The new funding puts the value of the company around $1 billion, according to both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

Twitter is a social networking site that allows users to send out text messages, up to 140 characters, known as “tweets.”

Did NBC cross the line by becoming a cheerleader for the new $1.2 billion Dallas Cowboys Stadium on “NFL Sunday Night Football”? Or was it just enthusiastic reporting?

Eric Deggans of the National Sports Journalism Center raises that question in a column this week on the center’s Web site.

“You knew trouble was coming when the broadcast started with images of the Taj Mahal and Egyptian Pyramids, leading to a loving shot of the gleaming new Cowboys Stadium.”

Impressive as the new stadium is, Deggan points out NBC, including coverage on the “Today” show, should have reported some of the less positive features of the new arena. Those include:  that taxpayers had to pony up $933 million; some local taxes were raised; parking at the stadium costs $40, and a 20-inch pizza goes for 60 bucks.

Smartphone Apps are quickly becoming a boon to marketers. The Advertising Age this week looks at the best ways companies can build a successful App strategy.

These 12 tips are culled from Kraft, Bank of America, Benjamin Moore and others who’ve made a successful foray into the App business.

The top tips include:

• Make sure the quality of your content and streaming video matches TV and the Web.

• Help your customers out by making it easier for them to pay by partnering with companies that know how to collect money.

• Respond quickly to feedback when customers point to the flaws of your App.

Click here to see the entire list.

Is Katie Couric worth her estimated $15 million annual salary at CBS News?  And are the hefty salaries of both TV anchors and political talk show hosts hurting the quality of news?

Those are questions Michael Massing takes up in the Columbia Journalism Review.

“While doing some recent research on the news business, I came upon this remarkable fact: Katie Couric’s annual salary is more than the entire annual budgets of NPR’s ‘Morning Edition’ and ‘All Things Considered’ combined.”

His conclusion: News organizations would be better served spending the money on a slew of additional reporters.

Congress today will take up two important issues facing the media—a proposed federal shield law and the newspaper industry’s financial woes.

The House Joint Economic Committee will examine how the digital age and the changing media landscape have hurt newspapers. The committee will hear witness testimony and review possible ways to save the industry.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is going to take another look at a proposed shield law that would prevent journalists from being forced to reveal their sources, except in cases of terrorism or witnessing a crime. The Free Flow of Information Act would only apply to the federal courts (Most, but not all, states have their own laws that shield journalists from having to reveal their sources).

Dozens of media organizations, including the Associated Press, have urged Congress to pass the proposed law. They are not happy, however, with a provision that excludes bloggers and journalists who are not paid by a media organization.

For many publishers, BusinessWeek says, survival means embracing the Web.

In the backdrop are two major developments in the book world: Google’s quest to sell millions of digital books online and the increased demand for e-readers such as Amazon’s Kindle or Sony’s Reader.

Publishers are already tinkering with new ways to sell digital books. They’re also considering placing ads on electronic pages and having a Netflix-like online book rental, BusinessWeek says.

Those plans couldn’t come soon enough. The Times reported this morning that e-readers are expected to have a breakout year and Best Buy and Verizon want in on some of the action.

Best Buy is planning on selling its own electronic reader, and Verizon will let its customers buy digital books and newspapers wirelessly.

Picture this: One of the nation’s largest newspaper chains unloads its prized professional baseball team in deal that cheats taxpayers out of nearly $300 million.

That’s the argument that Allan Sloan, an editor at Fortune Magazine, lays out in the Washington Post this week. Sloan is referring to The Tribune Co.’s plan to sell the Chicago Cubs in a “leveraged partnership.”  The Tribune Co., which also owns the L.A. Times, is the nation’s second-biggest newspaper company. It filed for bankruptcy late last year.

“The Chicago Cubs aren’t going to win anything this year despite having one of baseball’s largest payrolls. But their bankrupt owner, Sam Zell’s Tribune Co., may be about to hit a home run — at your expense.”

Sloan says the partnership would divert money from taxpayers to the creditors of Tribune. If the partnership goes through, the Ricketts family, founders of Ameritrade, would control the Cubs and have 95% of the partnership.

The proposal, however, is likely to attract hostility from the IRS, Sloan says.

Stay tuned to see what happens.