how's your pulse?
November 24, 2006 6:10 PM Subscribe
it, it, it's alive! social networking sites have a pulse. "The form of the monster on whom I had bestowed existence was forever before my eyes, and I raved incessantly concerning him."
Actually figures 5 and 6 look eerily close to a human heartbeat. Interesting post.
posted by LoriFLA at 6:31 PM on November 24, 2006
posted by LoriFLA at 6:31 PM on November 24, 2006
But correlation does not mean causation.
Am I gonna hafta wack somebody upside the head with my "How to Lie With Statistics" book?
posted by wendell at 6:45 PM on November 24, 2006
Am I gonna hafta wack somebody upside the head with my "How to Lie With Statistics" book?
posted by wendell at 6:45 PM on November 24, 2006
Facebook is pretty fascinating, but I can see where XMLicious is coming from -- there's not any data here that I wouldn't have predicted. Still, I like graphs.
posted by danb at 6:49 PM on November 24, 2006
posted by danb at 6:49 PM on November 24, 2006
XMLicious got it. This is what every internet based app looks like. Fewer people are online at 5am than 5pm. Amazing.
posted by stbalbach at 7:04 PM on November 24, 2006
posted by stbalbach at 7:04 PM on November 24, 2006
All this means is that all of the users of Facebook are in North American time zones.
Unless, of course, you read the full PDF in which case you'll find the traffic hours are significantly different from most web sites.
posted by tkolar at 7:08 PM on November 24, 2006
But correlation does not mean causation.
Agreed. The first thing that came to mind was humbuggery, but interesting nevertheless.
posted by LoriFLA at 7:14 PM on November 24, 2006
Wow, things in life are periodic. Mind-blowing!
posted by basicchannel at 7:26 PM on November 24, 2006
posted by basicchannel at 7:26 PM on November 24, 2006
Does this mean that when the web becomes the self-aware killing machine we've all long-expected it to evolve into, it will base its behaviors upon the crooked-hat wearing fratards of Facebook & MySpace?
That's more horrifying than Forty Agent Smiths wiring Skynet to HAL for a DEFCON 5 LAN party. Run for the hills!
posted by EatTheWeek at 7:45 PM on November 24, 2006
That's more horrifying than Forty Agent Smiths wiring Skynet to HAL for a DEFCON 5 LAN party. Run for the hills!
posted by EatTheWeek at 7:45 PM on November 24, 2006
No, when the web becomes a self-aware killing machine, we will know precisely where to aim our post-apocalyptic spears in order to gore out its blackened, beating heart: Facebook.
posted by synaesthetichaze at 8:22 PM on November 24, 2006
posted by synaesthetichaze at 8:22 PM on November 24, 2006
Actually it looks like most of the traffic is actually in the early morning, for whatever time zone they chose. If it was based on pacific it would make sense, most of the traffic comes in the middle of the night.
Not that it's really very interesting at all.
posted by delmoi at 8:23 PM on November 24, 2006
Not that it's really very interesting at all.
posted by delmoi at 8:23 PM on November 24, 2006
This would have captivated me for weeks when I was 14 (like Facebook and MySpace themselves, I guess).
Now, not so much.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:40 PM on November 24, 2006
Now, not so much.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:40 PM on November 24, 2006
OK, so, like, in the fight between Facebook and Skynet, who wins?
posted by spiderwire at 8:42 PM on November 24, 2006
posted by spiderwire at 8:42 PM on November 24, 2006
Oh, and I have a new general rule of thumb that's so obvious that I'm not even going to bother making the MeTa thread:
If your vaguely relevant WikiPedia link is both longer and more interesting than the post itself, THIS IS NOT THE BEST OF THE WEB.
posted by spiderwire at 8:44 PM on November 24, 2006
If your vaguely relevant WikiPedia link is both longer and more interesting than the post itself, THIS IS NOT THE BEST OF THE WEB.
posted by spiderwire at 8:44 PM on November 24, 2006
OK, so, like, in the fight between Facebook and Skynet, who wins?
Dude, they totally merge.
posted by brundlefly at 8:46 PM on November 24, 2006
Dude, they totally merge.
posted by brundlefly at 8:46 PM on November 24, 2006
frankenstein's monster is not as gross as a hagfish
posted by spiderwire at 8:50 PM on November 24, 2006
posted by spiderwire at 8:50 PM on November 24, 2006
And that's not even half as gross as a monkfish.
posted by bob sarabia at 8:53 PM on November 24, 2006
posted by bob sarabia at 8:53 PM on November 24, 2006
An adult hagfish can secrete enough slime [mucus] to turn a large bucket of water into gel in a matter of minutes.
Hagfish enter both living and dead fish, feeding on the insides
Monkfish are not even close.
posted by spiderwire at 9:04 PM on November 24, 2006
Hagfish enter both living and dead fish, feeding on the insides
Monkfish are not even close.
posted by spiderwire at 9:04 PM on November 24, 2006
Oh, I just meant gross looking. Clearly the hagfish is the king of gross behavior. The monkfish looks like it's been run over several times and left in the hot, hot sun.
posted by bob sarabia at 9:17 PM on November 24, 2006
posted by bob sarabia at 9:17 PM on November 24, 2006
All this means is that all of the users of Facebook are in North American time zones.
Unless, of course, you read the full PDF in which case you'll find the traffic hours are significantly different from most web sites.
Oh, come on, it doesn't matter what time of day it is. If Facebook's users were primarily European, all of the peaks in that graph would be shifted six hours to the right.
I'm not saying it isn't interesting research, in particular I find it interesting that students' amount of internet usage is correlated to the amount of time they spend studying, it's just that the poster and the guy he linked to saying "the internet is a living organism because this graph looks like a heartbeat" is a load of hyped bubkus.
posted by XMLicious at 9:30 PM on November 24, 2006
Unless, of course, you read the full PDF in which case you'll find the traffic hours are significantly different from most web sites.
Oh, come on, it doesn't matter what time of day it is. If Facebook's users were primarily European, all of the peaks in that graph would be shifted six hours to the right.
I'm not saying it isn't interesting research, in particular I find it interesting that students' amount of internet usage is correlated to the amount of time they spend studying, it's just that the poster and the guy he linked to saying "the internet is a living organism because this graph looks like a heartbeat" is a load of hyped bubkus.
posted by XMLicious at 9:30 PM on November 24, 2006
Oops, sorry, six hours to the left. Or maybe seven or eight hours, depending on how much traffic in the original is from the West coast. Whatever.
posted by XMLicious at 9:32 PM on November 24, 2006
posted by XMLicious at 9:32 PM on November 24, 2006
speaking of squicky fish, check this fucker out! (via boingboing)
posted by sergeant sandwich at 10:21 PM on November 24, 2006 [1 favorite]
posted by sergeant sandwich at 10:21 PM on November 24, 2006 [1 favorite]
it's just that the poster and the guy he linked to saying "the internet is a living organism because this graph looks like a heartbeat" is a load of hyped bubkus.
No argument there. I did find the PDF of moderate interest though, especially since as a certified old person I had to ask "what is facebook, again?"
posted by tkolar at 11:26 PM on November 24, 2006
No argument there. I did find the PDF of moderate interest though, especially since as a certified old person I had to ask "what is facebook, again?"
posted by tkolar at 11:26 PM on November 24, 2006
The source for this report is Bernardo Huberman, a remarkably creative and interesting scientist for many years now. He edited the 1988 collection The Ecology of Computation, something that was very influential on me in my PhD studies. Particularly the papers on Agoric computing by Eric Drexler (of nanotech fame) and Mark Miller. Lots of interesting ideas buried there, waiting to come out.
That being said, the "like a heartbeat" observation is dumb. I'm guessing this was not the central point of the HP research.
posted by Nelson at 1:37 AM on November 25, 2006
That being said, the "like a heartbeat" observation is dumb. I'm guessing this was not the central point of the HP research.
posted by Nelson at 1:37 AM on November 25, 2006
Oh, yeah, the researchers themselves don't say anything about the heartbeat stuff and the fact it's all tied to time of day is part of the research. It's just the guy who posted here and the guy on smartmobs.com who linked to the PDF who are being goobers.
posted by XMLicious at 3:07 AM on November 25, 2006
posted by XMLicious at 3:07 AM on November 25, 2006
A frog(AF) + Hand Clap Behind Her(HCBH) = Jump
cut 1 leg
AF + HCBH = Jump
cut 2 legs
AF + HCBH = Jump
cut 3 legs
AF + HCBH = Jump
cut the last leg
AF + HCBH = No Jump
Conclusion : with 4, 3, 2 or 1 leg the frog can still move but with no legs the frog became deaf.
posted by zouhair at 3:11 AM on November 25, 2006
cut 1 leg
AF + HCBH = Jump
cut 2 legs
AF + HCBH = Jump
cut 3 legs
AF + HCBH = Jump
cut the last leg
AF + HCBH = No Jump
Conclusion : with 4, 3, 2 or 1 leg the frog can still move but with no legs the frog became deaf.
posted by zouhair at 3:11 AM on November 25, 2006
To hell with the report, I just want the dataset. Drool.
posted by scalefree at 6:01 AM on November 25, 2006
posted by scalefree at 6:01 AM on November 25, 2006
Not sure what's more creepy ... the facts presented or the fact that someone figured that out and thought it was news-worthy.
posted by mallopar at 10:19 AM on November 25, 2006
posted by mallopar at 10:19 AM on November 25, 2006
"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! -- tear up the planks! -- here, here! -- it is the beating of his hideous heart!"
posted by spiderwire at 12:57 PM on November 25, 2006
posted by spiderwire at 12:57 PM on November 25, 2006
But correlation does not mean causation.
Agreed. The first thing that came to mind was humbuggery, but interesting nevertheless.
"This pattern looks like a heartbeat!" Please show me where the claim of causation is. If you think it's "the internet is alive, therefore there is this cool pattern", I think you have other things to humbug. I know it's really exciting to whip out that one fact of statistics you remember from high school and demonstrate that you're so much more knowledgable than all those idiot professional researchers out there who just publish papers to get grants, but it is incredibly, incredibly tiresome to read it for the eight thousandth time on MetaFilter and have it completely inapplicable to the subject matter.
I'm pretty sure wendell was trolling, too. Good work.
This is a neat little study, though, when you actually read it; nothing earthshaking, but it's nice to see. Thanks for the link localhuman.
posted by blacklite at 10:44 AM on November 26, 2006
Agreed. The first thing that came to mind was humbuggery, but interesting nevertheless.
"This pattern looks like a heartbeat!" Please show me where the claim of causation is. If you think it's "the internet is alive, therefore there is this cool pattern", I think you have other things to humbug. I know it's really exciting to whip out that one fact of statistics you remember from high school and demonstrate that you're so much more knowledgable than all those idiot professional researchers out there who just publish papers to get grants, but it is incredibly, incredibly tiresome to read it for the eight thousandth time on MetaFilter and have it completely inapplicable to the subject matter.
I'm pretty sure wendell was trolling, too. Good work.
This is a neat little study, though, when you actually read it; nothing earthshaking, but it's nice to see. Thanks for the link localhuman.
posted by blacklite at 10:44 AM on November 26, 2006
« Older Street Studio at Burning Man | Here they come to snuff the peacock | Yeah here... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
All this means is that all of the users of Facebook are in North American time zones.
posted by XMLicious at 6:28 PM on November 24, 2006