Intern Creates Map of Facebook Users

An intern in Facebook’s engineering department has mapped out an image showing global connections between site users.

Paul Butler placed a small dot for each user and connected them with other users with lines on a global map. The resulting image highlights some of Facebook’s usage in vivid blacks, blues, and whites. The map displays the outlines of continents and even some countries and major cities can be seen.

Although Butler’s map used only a random sample of 10 million users, there was a dramatic difference in users when comparing certain areas. The United States and Europe had a high density of users on the map. Moderate amounts of users were from South America and South Asia. The interiors of South America and Africa, as well as Russia and China had very few users on the map.

The map and Butler’s development process can be viewed on Facebook’s engineering blog.