New Animated Map Shows #MeToo Going Viral Within Hours
The #MeToo message spread like a wildfire across the United States and the globe, as shown in a dramatic new animation.
The animated map of nearly a quarter-million tweets illustrates how quickly and completely the #MeToo hashtag captured the public's attention.
Research firm Sperling's BestPlaces prepared the data visualization from the geolocated #MeToo tweets in the first 12 hours of the movement, when Alyssa Milano's message was tweeted.
Was the spread of the #metoo movement influenced by geography?
The #Metoo movement did not spread from one geographic place to another over time. The viral growth and spread of the movement happened all over the map at almost the same time. By zooming out in the map the global spread can be seen.
Does a Twitter following help grow a twitter movement?
The #Metoo movement grew fast, but it grew faster with celebrities involved. This confirms conventional wisdom that a healthy social media following accelerates growth in social media movements. The chart below shows the total number of tweets over time from the beginning.
Chart: Cumulative growth of tweets over time.
In addition, here is a list of the Top 10 most Mentioned twitter users:
| Twitter User |
Mention Count |
| @Alyssa_Milano |
2909 |
| @womensmarch |
287 |
| @ladygaga |
154 |
| @Amy_Siskind |
113 |
| @EdKrassen |
87 |
| @IlhanMN |
86 |
| @evanrachelwood |
84 |
| @Alt_DeptofED |
77 |
| @realDonaldTrump |
77 |
| @DLoesh |
68 |
Where were the first #metoo tweets?
Americans were the most common #metoo tweeters. The graph shows the number of tweets per hour peaking during the evening hours in the U.S. and dropping off during the overnight hours in the U.S. Furthermore, not only are there more active American Twitter users than any other country in general, but initial calls to use #metoo were from American celebrities.
Chart: Number of tweets per hour.
About Sperling's BestPlaces
Sperling's BestPlaces (www.bestplaces.net) is the nation's premier source for demographic and place data. Founded by author and researcher Bert Sperling over thirty years ago, BestPlaces helps over two million users a month make informed decisions about the best places for them to live, work, and retire. Bert's best selling books "Cities Ranked and Rated" and "Best Places to Raise Your Family" are published by John Wiley & Sons and he was tagged as the "The Guy Who Picks the Best Places" by the New York Times. Sperling's BestPlaces is responsible for more "Best Places" studies and research than any other single organization.
For more information, contact cartographer Nick Arnold at nick@bestplaces.net