Many of us post our current feelings as our status to let the Internet world know we are happy, sad, angry, excited, etc. But according to the New York Times there is now a study being done on tracking our mood changes. The study is being done by studying tweets on twitter, tracking particular words and associating them with a mood. For example anytime someone has the words, "awesome" or "agree", it is associated with positive moods. This study is watching everyone from the night owls to the early birds. Trying to learn more about already common believed mood changes like people being grumpy when they wake up or depressed during the winter months.
The Report that was done at Cornell University tracks mood rhythms, when certain moods peak and decline, not just in the day but during the year. Following the trends of certain moods and seeing when they were popular. For example more positive emotions are used around the spring equinox.
This makes me laugh and think are they are going to track my menstrual cycle next based on when I post moody status's around the same time of every month? One part of the article the I agreed with was that people post what they want others to think, it's not necessarily how they really feel . This is the major downfall with the success of the report.
I could see it being successful to advertisers if they could pin point a certain time of year or hour that they could reach their target audience. This study is taking the understanding of social sciences to a whole other level and so much research can be done for us to understand more.
Overall I thought the study was interesting and I'm interested to see what else they will come up with. And I will think about the next time I decided to add a mood indicator (smiley face) on my status or composed tweet.
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