Love it or hate it, everyone agrees that Facebook has taken the world by storm, and is the way people of all ages keep in touch with their friends and family. The company is so influential that Time Magazine even named the CEO as their “Person of the Year."
What would happen if you took a sampling of all of the relationships people have on Facebook and created an image based on location? Paul Butler, an intern who is part of Facebook’s infrastructure engineering team, wondered the same thing and went about trying to create a visual representation of Facebook’s users and who they are friends with. The result is similar to a map of the world with some areas like the eastern United States and Europe a bright white, indicating many users while other parts of the world like Africa and most of South America darker, showing a lack of Facebook users.
Perhaps more interesting than what is visible on the image is the parts of the world that have few, if any connections at all. Some of these, like China, are due to governments blocking the site from its citizens. Others, like the holes in Africa, are probably due to lack of technology in the area.
Regardless of your opinion of the company, the picture clearly states that we like to remain connected to people from all around the world.