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Recently a group of mathematicians at the University of Vermont studied Twitter’s 140-word posts to determine the happiest and least happy places in the U.S. The results included Napa, CA as the happiest place (think wine, weather, and food.) Beaumont, Texas, came in last among 373 cities (think lots of swearing.)
In the state category, Hawaii came in first in happiness (think beach, weather, and sunshine) and Louisiana came in last (think profanity again.)
Researchers analyzed 10 million tweets. They used a list of 10,000 words that were rated on a 10-point scale. Words such as “terrorist,” “earthquake,” and “greed,” were high on the “sad” list. The “happy” list contained such words as “reunion” and “lol,” (laughing out loud.)
Previous studies also found out that the happiest day of the week for Twitter uses were Sunday mornings. While Thursday evenings tended to be the saddest. (And here I am on a Thursday evening getting ready to post this to Twitter!)
Interestingly, Oklahoma, which came in almost smack dab in the middle of the happy/sad list at #24, might slide way down the list when their new law goes into effect. The House Transportation Committee just approved a bill that would make it illegal for anyone to “compose, send, or read a test-based communication while a motor vehicle is in motion.” In other words, it will be hard to tweet while tooting around town.
And Napa and Hawaii better watch out. If they get the same law, they might not be the happy Twitter Kings any longer.
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