Facebook maps status updates on Japan earthquake
14 March 2011 Last updated at
10:38 GMT
As news of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami spread
around the world, it was reflected in the status updates of Facebook users.
For the first time the social networking site has
plotted user updates by place and time.
The site collated information on 4.5m status updates
from 3.8m users.
It tracked the words 'Japan', 'earthquake' and
'tsunami'.
Times shown are in US Pacific time which is 8 hours
behind GMT and 17 hours behind Japan.
Video courtesy of Facebook.
Facebook has generated an interactive map of how the news of
Japanese tsunami and earth quake spread through the world.
Facebook has plotted how status updates about the Japanese
earthquake and tsunami spread across the world in the hours following the
disaster, creating the first map of its kind
Hopefully those spreading the news via pictures and videos
will increase awareness and subsequently donations which will help people dealing
with the aftermath of numerous disasters from earth-shaking to massive waves
and potentially nuclear.
To see social networking truly being leveraged to help mankind is quite
rewarding for someone chronicling its evolution.
Problem set: How Facebook used Map reduce to map status
updates on Japan earth quake based on date time and place?
Identify the
associated map tasks
One Document for one status update
Let’s assume that Facebook stores the status updates in the
following text based format:
001 Jayani 3/17/2011 4:45 PM Sri-Lanka We
are with Japan
002 Bieber 3/17/2011 4:46 PM United States Now
I'm really glad that I speak French
The Situation type will contain the date, time and
region details.
Class Situation
DateTime
Region
Map (Key [001],
Value[Jayani 3/17/2011
4:45 PM Sri-Lanka We are with Japan])
{
Situation01 –
DateTime = 3/17/2011 4:45
PM
Region
= Sri-Lanka
for each word w in value:
EmitIntermediate (word - We, situation - Situation01)
}
Get
intermediate values
Intermediate values from first map task:
We Situation01(3/17/2011 4:45 PM, Sri-Lanka)
Are Situation01
With Situation01
Japan Situation01
Intermediate values from second map task:
Now Situation02(3/17/2011 4:46 PM, United
States)
I’m Situation02
really Situation02
glad Situation02
that Situation02
I Situation02
speak Situation02
French Situation02
Intermediate values from third map task:
Japan Situation03(3/17/2011
4:50 PM, Jamaica)
Earthquake Situation03
result Situation03
in Situation03
a Situation03
blast Situation03
in Situation03
Fukushima Situation03
Sort the
results
a Situation03
Are Situation01
blast Situation03
Earthquake Situation03
French Situation02
Fukushima Situation03
glad Situation02
I Situation02
I’m Situation02
in Situation03
in Situation03
Japan Situation01
Japan Situation03
Now Situation02
really Situation02
result Situation03
speak Situation02
that Situation02
We Situation01
With Situation01
Group
the results by key
a Situation03
Are Situation01
blast Situation03
Earthquake Situation03
French Situation02
Fukushima Situation03
glad Situation02
I Situation02
I’m Situation02
in Situation03, Situation03
Japan Situation01, Situation03
Now Situation02
really Situation02
result Situation03
speak Situation02
that Situation02
We Situation01
With Situation01
Reduce
function
reduce(String word , Iterator situations):
{
For each situ in situations
{
if (word == “japan” OR “earthquake” OR “tsunami”)
{
If (not exists)
OutputCollection.Add(situ);
}
}
}
Results:
Situation01, Situation03
Output
collection (status updates about Japan earth quake based on region and
time)
3/17/2011 4:45 PM,
Sri-Lanka
3/17/2011 4:50 PM,
Jamaica
Using the output collection we can design a video
on how Japan earthquake was reflected in Facebook status updates in different
regions of world.
The video is available on http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12730297
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