We’re using Ethersource to monitor the mood of the Swedish blogosphere in terms of positivity, negativity, uncertainty, and an index we call Positivity Propensity Index (PPI).
The graphs below show two particularly interesting things.
- Positivity (as in PPI) is cyclic on a weekly basis; Swedes are happier during weekends (Image 1). We all knew this, but it’s good to get it on ink.
- At the same time, Swedes are more uncertain during Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, than they are during the rest of the week (Image 2).
Image 1 shows the positivity, negativity, and PPI for a three week period in 2011. Note the rise in PPI and the decline in absolute positivity and negativity during the weekends (red circles). The decline is a direct result of people blogging less during weekends, especially during weekends with good weather, as was the one on October 1-2. The rise in PPI (blue curve) indicates that people are, in fact, saying kinder things and being more positive.
Image 2 shows the uncertainty (labelled IFFY), positivity, and negativity for the weekend October 7 – 9, 2011. The graph clearly shows the early onset of uncertainty compared to those of positivity and negativity. It also gives away that uncertainty is relatively high during weekends. The same patterns holds for the weekends we’ve seen so far. Upon inspecting some of the blog posts underlying the uncertainty curve, it is evident that us Swedes are prone to ponder the big questions in life during the dark hours of the weekends.
We’ll continue to monitor the Swedish blogosphere and look for other interesting bits of information. For instance, is the pattern of rise in PPI during weekends more pronounced during a particular time of the year? Do we express more uncertainty in the face of Christmas?
