A two-year study of the Tweets from over 2 million Twitter users in 84 countries has given us some interesting insight on our mood throughout the day, week and year.
The findings from sociologists at Cornell University conclude that people in general are most happy in the morning from 6am-9am (before work) and in the evening hours around dinner time (after work). During the day while most of us are at work we hit a plateau. On Mondays, moods showed a low peak with the moods becoming more positive as the week went on, no surprise there (Come on Hump Day!). On the weekends the morning posts were still positive but occurred usually about two hours later and started to peak again two hours later in the evening than during the work week.
Social media is providing a plethora of data that sociologists and other researchers are able to draw from. It’s no surprise people post their opinions, moods, and other information about themselves through various social media channels. Something the article brought up and that I thought about immediately though is how accurate is this data? I don’t know about your friends and connections but many of them are not the same people in person, while some of them are exactly how they are in real life. In the world of social media, chat rooms, and online forums, people can be whoever they want. Although, I think most people who do post when they are sad, upset, happy or angry probably really feel that way.
How does this data translate in other studies? Do status updates and Tweets really reflect how people feel or are they just trying to be heard or make a point? In any event, I think many of us can agree Mondays aren’t near as much fun as Fridays!