Data flows around us like an invisible ocean, thanks to conversations in the Twitterverse and Facebook and other social networks. There’s so much information that, until we see a visual representation of it, it’s difficult to fathom. Once we see the data in context of something else, such as geographic location, for instance, the data becomes even more interesting.
Recently 
Bit.ly and Forbes.com came up with a really interesting way to see data. They got together and created an interactive map to see where some news sources are popular in the U.S.
This version of the map was for data gathered in January, 2012 but the map was published March 22, 2012. Interesting to note that NPR shows up strongly in only one state: Oregon. The Huffington Post was surprisingly popular in Appalachia. And Mississippi loves its Fox News – at least during this time period that the data was collected.
Data Scientists, Hilary Mason and Anna Smith, over at Bit.ly, put together the data for the interactive map for Forbes. Read more about this fascinating combo of data, shortened links from curators, mostly in Facebook and Twitter, and their popularity in different areas of the U.S. here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonbruner/2012/03/22/forbes-interactive-media-map/
