Here's which state posts the nastiest tweets
Technically Incorrect: An analysis of millions of tweets shows which places emit the nastiest, the most racist, and the most sexist messages on Twitter. You might be surprised.
Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.
The home of intemperate tweeting?
We're enjoying a little Golden Age in America currently.
I'm sorry. I mean, a Golden Rage.
Our political system has rarely been more divided and divisive. Conveniently, we have the glories of social media upon which to emit every milliliter of our inner bile.
I've stumbled upon an analysis that sought to discover which states post the nastiest, most racist and most sexist tweets.
I can feel you perking up, ready to post a tweet aimed at the nastiest state in America.
While encouraging you not to, I can reveal that this study -- sponsored by apartment-finding site Abodo -- deduced that one state produced 1,155 tweets per 100,000 that contained derogatory language.
That state was Louisiana.
I cannot confirm whether the derogatory language was aimed at particular individuals or, indeed, at the government. I can confirm that the next most abusively tweeting state was Nevada at 929 tweets per 100,000.
The home of freewheeling behavior was closely followed by Texas, Maryland, Delaware, Ohio and California.
The Hall of Shame?
Who were the nice guys, those whose tweets were free of nastiness?
Welcome, Wyoming, with merely 120 nasty tweets per 100,000. It just pipped Montana. A considerable way behind were Vermont, South Dakota, Idaho and Arkansas.
The study looked at around 12 million tweets selected according to 154 keywords. The full and NSFW list is here.
The figures were broken down further. The most anti-black tweets? West Virginia. The most anti-Hispanic tweets? Why, supremely tolerant California.
What about the most sexist tweets? When it comes to derogatory language against women, Louisiana comes out on top again. Texas and Maryland stand next in line.
However, if you exclude the word "bitch," Nevada leaps to the top.
As for anti-gay tweets, the researchers analyzed the results only by city. Buffalo, New York, please go stand in the corner. Arlington, Texas, go too. You're almost as bad, as are two Californian cities -- Riverside and Fontana.
As you watch the results of primaries and caucuses and as you follow issues that are dear to your heart, you might now focus more intently not only on the most disgraceful tweets, but where they come from.
I wonder if the governors of some of these states will try to clean them up, Twitter-wise.
Governors can't resist any excuse to pat themselves on the back. Perhaps they're motivated by all the Twitter abuse they get.