From today’s New York Times:
Twitter has been described many ways. At its best, it has been called a revolutionary political tool and a low-cost marketing machine. At its worst, it has been dubbed a waste of time.
Now, two researchers are calling it a hedonimeter, a device that measures happiness.
Peter Sheridan Dodds and Christopher M. Danforth, a pair of statisticians from the University of Vermont, are hoping to harness the stream of messages flowing through the popular micro-blogging platform at any given moment to read public opinion and sentiment in real-time.
Sounds a bit similar in concept to a piece I wrote two years ago.
Yes, the application was an April Fools’ joke, but the concept isn’t.
Just being the mediocre soul that I am, the only use I’ve found so far is to inform all three of my readers when I post something I think they might like.
Well, hell. Scratch that.
Only one of my three readers follows me on twitter.
Twitter is almost as bad as texting on cellphones lol.. plz! I’ll never use twitter but then again I am so old I still hide in irc; gamer habits die hard I guess.
Ike no more twitter stuff, pretty please?
– this might interest u, also 2 years old
http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_harris_tells_the_web_s_secret_stories.html
Great piece. Posted.