'London Eye' Olympic light show powered by tweets

10 Aug 2012, 4:08 pm   -   Source: Brian Thomson, SBS

England's glowing torch of the 2012 Olympic Games, as well as a London Eye light show, are powered by tweets. Cameron Hughes from EDF Energy explains how it works.

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England's glowing torch of the 2012 Olympic Games, as well as a London Eye light show, are powered by tweets. But how does it all work? 

Based on an "intuitive algorithm," real-time tracking of the tweets relating to the Olympics splits comments into positive, negative and neutral categories according to words, phrases, and emoticons, then filter them into the light show. 

"We analise the content of the tweets, and then we use that to actually drive a light show on the energy of the night," Cameron Hughes, Head of Brand EDF Energy said.

"So, if you are seeing a yellow colour, it means that there's a lot positive energy in social media. If you are seeing purple, it means that there's negative energy".

Mr Hughes says the amount of yellow lighting up England's glowing torch has been rising during the Games, reaching a peak of 90 percent of positive comments in one instance, and 76 percent yesterday. 

 Watch this interview on YouTube:

Olympics 2012

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