Twitter trending topics and the danger with real-time statistics


	Twitter trending topics and the danger with real-time statistics

JICWyllie

6-18-2009 11:55 AM

253 views

tags:

1-distortion, 1-self signifying, 1-statistics, 2-risks, 2-trends, 3-critique, 4-intl

1 Comment |

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6-18-2009 3:50 PM

arifsali

I think trending topics and real-time statistics are fine as long as they're distributed. For example, instead of having one Twitter covering the whole world, it would be better to have twitter geographically distributed, so they provide relevant trending topics/statistics.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/ec63be23-db13-421a-b554-c38addc6379d/5ADABAB6-C6D2-469A-82F4-0E080DEA1FBE/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://rashmisinha.com/2009/06/01/twitter-trending-topics-and-the-danger-with-real-time-statistics/" href="http://rashmisinha.com/2009/06/01/twitter-trending-topics-and-the-danger-with-real-time-statistics/" style="font-size: 11px;">rashmisinha.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://rashmisinha.com/2009/06/01/twitter-trending-topics-and-the-danger-with-real-time-statistics/"><P>Everytime I see <A href="http://search.twitter.com/">Twitter trending topics</A>, it reminds of the scientific adage that when we observe something we change it. It is a recognized effect in physics (see Wikipedia for an explanation of <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer_effect_(physics)">Observer effects</A>). By allowing us to observe trending topics in real time, Twitter gives us the opportunity to change them. Contrast that with post-hoc analysis like Google Zeigeist. It is way past the event, and as such, harder to influence.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://rashmisinha.com/2009/06/01/twitter-trending-topics-and-the-danger-with-real-time-statistics/">It goes beyond the observer effect: real time statistics also facilitate herding behavior even more than the internet typically does. The analogy is to <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd_psychology">crowd behavior</A> more than anything else. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://rashmisinha.com/2009/06/01/twitter-trending-topics-and-the-danger-with-real-time-statistics/">This is not just Twitter, this is the danger (and opportunity) with real-time statistics. When we find out about something in real time, we don’t just observe, we also participate and change the phenomenon itself. Recall the type of information and misinformation that spread when <A href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=swineflu">Swine Flu</A> was a trending topic on Twitter.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/5ADABAB6-C6D2-469A-82F4-0E080DEA1FBE/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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