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British Airways Creates a Sonic Barometer of Olympic Social Data

by Randy Matheson. 0 Comments

British Airways Home AdvantageI’m a sucker for great data visualizations; add interactivity and sound and you have my attention.

British Airways is aggregating the tweets, posts, and status updates of Olympic fans each day to craft an interactive symphonic sound wave.

As the sound wave plays through the social media activity of the day, the symphonic music becomes quieter or more intense based on the amount of posts that are being recorded during that hour. The Sound of the #HomeAdvantage will be live during both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In the screen capture here from August 5, a peak can be seen at just after 4 p.m. This illustrates the moment that thousands of Brits posted their reactions to hometown hero Andy Murray defeating Roger Federer in the men’s singles tennis gold medal match.

Users can filter the data to see sound wave based on the social buzz around individual British athletes, a sport, or choose one of the Olympic venues.

The project was created by BBH London.

Posted in Data Collection, Social Media
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About Randy Matheson

A respected and highly-connected social networker, Randy is Director of Emerging Media + Trends at Delvinia. At Delvinia he performs a leading role in the strategy, planning and execution of digital technologies and social media programs for clients such as Microsoft, RBC, Manulife CoverMe and the Canadian Opera Company. Randy began his career as an illustrator and graphic designer in Nova Scotia, and has been active in digital media development since the early 90s in both Halifax and Toronto. He's often found on the leading edge of technology, playing with 20 or so of the lastest social or digital platforms.