Map of the World Based on Online Friendships

An intern at Facebook created a map of the world defined not by geographical features of geopolitical boundaries, but by Facebook friendships.

The intern, Paul Butler, took around 10 million Facebook friendships (pairs of Facebook friends) and plotted their coordinates on the map above. The brighter a line between cities, the more Facebook friendships there are between the two. Creating the map, Butler was interested in “how geography and political borders affected where people lived relative to their friends.” Guess the Red Scare’s still in effect.

You can see the full size image here.