@mention constellations

I've been lucky enough working at Twitter to entertain a hobby project or two. My current obsession is "@mention constellations". Let me show you them:

What you're looking at is a small section of a larger graph showing Twitter users mentioning other Twitter users. Each vertex is a Twitter account. Each directed edge is a mention of one account by another. In this image you can see some accounts which get mentioned a lot (lots of inbound arrows to a central point) and accounts which do a lot of mentioning (lots of outbound arrows from a central point). The latter are mainly automata.

To me, in this presentation, the many distinct configurations look like galaxies. Or perhaps viruses. Can you recognize the basic phyla in this ecosystem? Some commonality, a lot of diversity; it's a menagerie of conversational molecules akin to the patterns one finds in Conway's game of life.

I'm working with GraphViz to produce these images, and I have hopes for Gephi although it's not there yet.

July 20th

shrieky baby is shrieky

7:22am

getting my lion on

7:31am

this one for @dickc RT @Kurt_Vonnegut: Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.

8:04am

whoah. @wendyverse and I just witnessed @thebeean's first steps. we're gobsmacked.

8:12am

wow wow wow RT @astro_aggie: This is best picture I've ever taken. Atlantis and aurora last week. Stunning! #FromSpace twitpic.com/5su12j

9:01am

by popular request, video of some of @thebeean's first steps this morning. youtube.com/watch?v=sY8SJK…. um, pretend the underpants aren't there.

9:11am

thanks @AlFranken for this most delightful takedown of a Focus on the Family witness at today's #DOMA hearing: youtube.com/watch?v=ZyAuel…

10:19am

How Twitter got its name: holykaw.alltop.com/how-twitter-go… (via @EricaAmerica)

10:24am

i for one would like to learn more about "Windows Party Mode" http://t.co/Tqdsp3O

11:25am

lolwut? private static Nothing nothing = new Nothing();

11:52am

wow, google shuttering google labs. surprising. googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/more-w…

12:37pm

I liked a @YouTube video youtu.be/RTNquPzvbWY?a Rebecca Black - My Moment (NO AUTO-TUNE Version!)

2:46pm

long day is long. headed home.

5:50pm

not the most attractive window title for the default finder window in #lion: cl.ly/1i1J162d402s0s…

8:30pm

how long until the first pc oem reverses scroll direction on a windows laptop?

8:36pm

tonight @wendyverse will be modeling the twitter @townhall feetie from @OriginalFeetie: yfrog.com/kggd7btj

8:45pm

wow, @salgar just sent me a message on Google Buzz. that dude is kicking it old-skool. respect!

9:32pm

the fact that apple's iPad business is bigger than dell's pc business is just mind-blowing.

10:14pm

July 19th

haha! "Murdochs Vow to Launch Full Investigation to Find Out Who is Running Company They Are in Charge Of" borowitzreport.com/2011/07/19/mur…

9:33am

priceless! RT @caroldecker: God will you all knob off! I do not look like RB!!!!! You mother fuckers!!!

12:53pm

wow just wow. "Apple vs. NASDAQ, Microsoft, and Google. From the day of Google’s IPO through today" kungfugrippe.com/post/783325080… /cc @kevinthau

10:01pm

prototyping a new blog format. next up: inline media. isaach.com/2011/07/july-1…

10:03pm

July 18th

this web page is very pleased with itself for intercepting right-clicks: cl.ly/2c0Q331l3r1x30…

9:57am

>boggle<. NotW phone hacking whistleblower found dead and "the death is currently being treated as unexplained" guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul…

10:10am

what a great idea! "Netflix for Baby Clothes" plumgear.com /cc @hmnoise @wendyverse

12:01pm

super story. "Wood Tape" gamesbyemail.com/WoodTape/Defau…

12:37pm

weirder and weirder. police examine bag with computer, papers and phone found in trashcan near Rebekah Brooks's home: guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul…

1:17pm

wow. "i understand if u smoke weed, but no touching the children. ALL RACES WELCOME BESIDE ORIENTAL!" sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/tlg/249345… (via @grauface)

4:18pm

shit's got serious. i'm about to install Eclipse, lord help me.

8:01pm

already frustrated beyond belief with Eclipse. that didn't take long.

8:21pm

this evening's view from the front deck @ Casa Nueva Crapworth instagr.am/p/H_5X8/

8:49pm

current status: twitter.com/isaach_2/statu…

9:57pm