Chart uses mayor’s tweets to track her awakenings

Curtis GilbertCurtis Gilbert May 20, 2014
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When Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges began sharing 140 characters of inspiration every morning, she probably didn’t realize how much she was revealing.

The mayor starts each day by tweeting a brief quotation from the likes of Carl Sagan, Colin Powell and Nora Ephron to her 8,462 followers on Twitter.

Local statistician Tom Q. Johnson saw the quotes as a data set. He used the timestamp on Hodges’ tweets to determine approximately when she got out of bed each day. The average? 6:31 a.m.

Hodges apparently found the chart flattering.

“*Now* I am The Mayor,” she quipped on Facebook. “I don’t experience it as creepy – I think it’s pretty hilariously awesome.”

Johnson specializes in off-beat analyses of Minnesota topics, including one tracking the price of marijuana in various cities around the state.

  • Joe

    How could anyone find that chart flattering? It’s like going into your stalker’s basement to find their terrifying shrine to you. I guess that’s what she’s into.

    • Tom Johnson

      data is scary

      • Joe

        It’s not the data that is scary, it’s the chart that presents the data that is scary. Someone made that chart, and it wasn’t the data, unless the data learned how to wield a white board marker.