How Monitoring Twitter Is Like Peeking Into Society’s Bloodstream

A team of computer-science researchers have reportedly discovered a way to use Twitter to figure out when you are going to catch a cold. Their application scans Twitter for telltale phrases — I’m guessing things like "How come nobody sells tissues at San Diego Comic-Con?" and "I’m so sick, I can barely lick all these doorknobs" — and uses them to map the progress of disease the way a weatherman maps the progress of his rating

By Lore Sjöberg

Full Story: http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/08/alt-text-twitter-bloodstream/