Virtual Map of National Mood Swing Through Twitter

The national mood swing can now be seen through the eyes of Twitter. It can be best described as an online mood ring for the masses charted with a cartogram created by researchers from Northeastern University College of Computer and Information Sciences and Harvard Medical School.

This video shows the mood in the U.S., as inferred using over 300 million tweets, over the course of the day. The maps are represented using density-preserving cartograms.

Researchers also observed interesting geographic results. People sending Twitter messages on the West Coast seem happier “in a pattern that is consistently three hours behind the East Coast.” Over all, judging from a video the researchers created, when Twitter users are upset, the most negative areas appear to be the middle of the country and the East Coast.

Tony M.

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