22nd
Human connections: the world according to facebook
Paul Butler, a data structuring intern at facebook, recently produced this jaw-dropping display of connections between facebook friends across the globe. He explains how he did it here. Quoting his words:
After a few minutes of rendering, the new plot appeared, and I was a bit taken aback by what I saw. The blob had turned into a surprisingly detailed map of the world. Not only were continents visible, certain international borders were apparent as well. What really struck me, though, was knowing that the lines didn’t represent coasts or rivers or political borders, but real human relationships. Each line might represent a friendship made while travelling, a family member abroad, or an old college friend pulled away by the various forces of life.
There is nothing in this graph but lines of facebook connections — by themselves, they suffice to portray the geographical, the political and the socioeconomic dimensions of our world. I am also taken aback. Beyond amazing.
(via @JUAN2X and @geekosystem)
