Twitter, of course, isn't the be all and end all for tracking the mood of a population (not yet, at least). Still, it's worth studying, and if nothing else, it produces interesting observations. A team of researchers from both Northeastern University and Harvard collaborated to analyze some 300 million tweets from September 2006 to August 2009. Using geographical data and past work in word / emotion association, the group has produced preliminary results and (arguably just as important) pretty graphs. The findings are presented by cartogram evolving over time -- weekends and weekdays are currently lumped together but will be separated later. Unsurprisingly, west coast moods follow the same pattern as the east coast, only three hours behind, but it is interesting to note that they also don't hit the same lows. Consider it some food for thought, and if you take offense, maybe you should spend more time looking at the bright side of life and gloating about it online. Hit up the source for more data and after the break for video.
actually, to a certain extent, you can. The only common thread between twitter users is the fact that they all have internet access, and they use twitter. That can skew results, but it can still give a general idea since the poll size is large and covers a broad timespan.
Is it a great poll? No. But it can provide decent info depending upon the question asked.
@fel no you only said that it's not representative of any particular group other than Twitter users. therefore it's as general as possible (unless millions of Twitter users are fundamentally different from the overall average, which they probably are, but I can't imagine by much...). disclaimer: i don't use twitter, yet anyway.
I think you could argue that they are somewhat different. They either have a reason to send out short blurbs to lots of people (musician, artist, business) or they somehow think everyone cares about whatever they are doing at the moment.
@Teerim I believe what they're doing is showing state size based on number of tweets. Similar to a homunculus, which is the human body where the size of a body part is directly proportionate to its sensitivity to touch.
@Teerim The larger/smaller distortion of certain states and areas represents the amount of activity/tweets at that given time if day. That's why more sparsely populated areas look pinched.
@cloud858rk cartograms are graphs that distort geographic area based on a differentiating piece of data, which in this case (I'm assuming) is the number of tweets per state. the more people tweeting at any one time from a particular state, the larger that state grows, relative to the other 49 states.
We never really drop to "unhappy", while the rest of the East Coast is seething red at worst we're just kinda "meh". Hard to be unhappy in all the sunshine.
@Psyclotr0n true, but then you'd have to live in a state with horrible fiscal problems and which prevents its citizens of exercising their second amendment rights. IE: A place I'm not willing to live.
Besides, the water is warmer here which makes for fun diving in the Keys. =P
@NaterGator FL elects people like Jeb Bush and Kamala Harris to run the show. and I'd say with the 2000 election, it proved it can match CA's dysfunction.
and yeah, CA, politically, is a clusterfuck. but you can't beat the weather, culture, recreation. =)
I see an old man dancing to techno under strobe lights holding the limp swaying body of his recently deceased cat Domino as he laughs hysterically with tears in his eyes reminiscing about the fun times they had together. =)
@Caullen sounds about right. I lived there for 5 years and I can say that the only time Wisconsinites are happy is when they are drinking, and I can assure you they aren't able to use the internet during that time. So yeah... pissed before drinking and tweeting, happy while drinking and unable to tweet, pissed afterwards from a hangover and tweeting.
Interesting, seems like people who Twitter are structurally unhappy, unless they live in a well developed seaside area (plenty of bars I guess) in which case they might find some happiness in the late evening (drinks? ladies? combination of both?)
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posted July 27th 2010 2:13AM
you mean the moodiness of twitter users in the us, told by twitter.
you cant just take 1 small website of a few million and use that as a gauge for everyone.
actually, to a certain extent, you can. The only common thread between twitter users is the fact that they all have internet access, and they use twitter. That can skew results, but it can still give a general idea since the poll size is large and covers a broad timespan.
Is it a great poll? No. But it can provide decent info depending upon the question asked.
@Androidsugly
lol exactly. Twitter users sure as hell are not representitive of any group other than Twitter users.
@fel you realize your argument is in favor of the sample validity then, yes?
@Psyclotr0n
how so? I said they were not representitive of the poplulation at large.
@Androidsugly
Florida is good!;)
@fel
no you only said that it's not representative of any particular group other than Twitter users. therefore it's as general as possible (unless millions of Twitter users are fundamentally different from the overall average, which they probably are, but I can't imagine by much...). disclaimer: i don't use twitter, yet anyway.
anyway, i defer to BigJayDogg3's post
@Androidsugly
I think you could argue that they are somewhat different. They either have a reason to send out short blurbs to lots of people (musician, artist, business) or they somehow think everyone cares about whatever they are doing at the moment.
@Androidsugly
New York and Lousiana .. (and apparently Maine? lol) are some pissed off places.
@Androidsugly
LOL @ New Mexico constantly being in a state of anger.
@Androidsugly Woah woah woah woah,
one SMALL Website? Since when is a site with over 100 million users Small!?
I'm moody because some one made my state weird shape... I seem to remember it being a triangle.
Man... New York is not a happy place, is it?
What did they do to the map of the US...
@Teerim
The New Geographic Map of USA (Twitter Edition)
hehe.
@Teerim I believe what they're doing is showing state size based on number of tweets. Similar to a homunculus, which is the human body where the size of a body part is directly proportionate to its sensitivity to touch.
@Teerim
The larger/smaller distortion of certain states and areas represents the amount of activity/tweets at that given time if day. That's why more sparsely populated areas look pinched.
It's 23:21 here in northern cal and I'm just tired.
@lakersin2025
it's 10:32 now in soviet russia where mood track YOU
is that the new pokemon #000 ?
i played snake on it instead of watching
Dissappointing, Engadget. Mashable reported this 5 days ago...
@iKid
wtf is a mashable?
@Psyclotr0n
potatoes.com maby :)
That doesn't even look like any country in existence, let alone the US...
@cloud858rk cartograms are graphs that distort geographic area based on a differentiating piece of data, which in this case (I'm assuming) is the number of tweets per state. the more people tweeting at any one time from a particular state, the larger that state grows, relative to the other 49 states.
i just find it funny that NY is never green ;)
Look at how happy we are in Florida! =D
We never really drop to "unhappy", while the rest of the East Coast is seething red at worst we're just kinda "meh". Hard to be unhappy in all the sunshine.
@NaterGator
or you could get the same sunshine in CA and not sweat your balls off 24/7 or have $500 A/C bills
@Psyclotr0n true, but then you'd have to live in a state with horrible fiscal problems and which prevents its citizens of exercising their second amendment rights. IE: A place I'm not willing to live.
Besides, the water is warmer here which makes for fun diving in the Keys. =P
@NaterGator
Your state is the wang of the country.
@NaterGator
FL elects people like Jeb Bush and Kamala Harris to run the show. and I'd say with the 2000 election, it proved it can match CA's dysfunction.
and yeah, CA, politically, is a clusterfuck. but you can't beat the weather, culture, recreation. =)
@Psyclotr0n *Katherine Harris
I see:
A deformed Butterfly
An angry dog
A maple leaf
A naked woman
@Wag
I see a dog, a chicken, a dog raping a chicken, and uhmmm...
wait... where are you taking me...
I'm not crazy...
@isotrex
I see an old man dancing to techno under strobe lights holding the limp swaying body of his recently deceased cat Domino as he laughs hysterically with tears in his eyes reminiscing about the fun times they had together. =)
(top that)
So I guess the Midwest is always pissed off? Makes sense I guess
@voodoochild
it's all that AM radio.
@voodoochild
Or all the twitters were from Tea Party members about their thoughts on Obama and Pelosi. :D
@voodoochild Haha, Wisconsin looks to be pissed of 24 hours a day
@voodoochild
Actually, everybody seems angry except the people around Georgia/ Florida and California.
@Caullen sounds about right. I lived there for 5 years and I can say that the only time Wisconsinites are happy is when they are drinking, and I can assure you they aren't able to use the internet during that time. So yeah... pissed before drinking and tweeting, happy while drinking and unable to tweet, pissed afterwards from a hangover and tweeting.
Super cool stuff...
Seemed to me like the more liberal states tended to be more happy. Weed, maybe?
@Crabs You haven't been to MA lately have you? Although I really don't think it's all that liberal outside of Cambridge.
looks like a butterfly
I think I am getting sea sick.... waaa.....
Interesting, seems like people who Twitter are structurally unhappy, unless they live in a well developed seaside area (plenty of bars I guess) in which case they might find some happiness in the late evening (drinks? ladies? combination of both?)
People use twitter?
Why is Virginia always red? Proximity to DC so most politicos live there I assume?
East coast dwellers are always pissed off....go figure. No wonder I can't stand that part of the country! Cali FTW!