False assumptions are hard to block once you get a look at Daniel P. Huffman 's color-coded map of profanity on Twitter(original PDF here). Using a sample of 1.5 millon geocoded tweets from last March 12 to April 9, the isoline map is lightest where the percentage of profanity in tweets was strongest.
"Profane Mountains, Polite Plains," the map's descriptive subtitle reads. Care to speculate why? Just for fun of course -- which areas curse most and why? (Remember kids — science is the very best way to work around those false assumptions!)
UPDATE: If you insist on being all serious (it's a map about bad words on Twitter, for cryin' out loud), here's more about the map, currently on the cover of Cartographic Perspectives:
Isolines are based upon an interpolated surface generated from approximately 1.5 million geocoded public posts on Twitter between March 9th and April 12th, 2010. These data represent only a sample of all posts made during that period. Isolines are based upon the average number of profanities found in the 500 nearest data points, in order to compensate for low population areas.
Last time I checked the comment sections of this post, Mr. Huffman was graciously addressing sincere posts — and may I say, he's delightful. Check out his blog for more information about this map, where he invites you to discuss it further.
And for more Twitter Profanity Fun, be sure to checkout Cursebird (with the permission of your parent or guardian).
More stories about the annoying way we live now:
- Forget the news! Twitter is now a game
- Your Facebook 'Likes' are now paid ads
- Your mom hates when you shill 'Dead Space 2' on Twitter
Helen A.S. Popkin writes about Facebook ... a lot. Follow her on Twitter and/or Facebook.
