Last week, the world experienced a once-in-a-century numerical phenomenon where every basic unit thart we use to measure time read eleven – 11th second of the 11th minute of the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year of the century.
11/11/11 meant different things for different people. Some linked the numerically significant day to doomsday prophecies – while some simply associated it with the (biblically) evil connotation of the number 11. Others saw the numbers as a sign of good fortune, as places like Las Vegas saw a massive hike in weddings scheduled at their many chapels.
I’m sure that many teenage girls made sure to make their most serious wish when all the elevens lined up.
For me, it was just a fun day to watch This is Spinal Tap and celebrate Nigel Tufnel Day.
Whatever significance 11/11/11 held for people, the common thread was that many of them took to Twitter to talk about it. And Twitter has created a visualization for the “once in a lifetime” moment:
This clip is a visualization of all the Tweets mentioning 11:11 on 11.11.11. Each “1” is a location that moves with the conversation on Twitter. Their scale varies depending on the volume of Tweets posted from the location they represent. You can see the main wave move from right to left, and then a second one that occurred at 11 p.m. around the world.
Look, the world is doing the numerology wave. Cute.
Did you participate in the online conversation about 11/11/11? Even if you spent your time disparaging everyone who cared about the numerical oddity, you were still probably involved in this global visualization.
I’m not holding my breath for this much buzz when pi day (extended) rolls around on March 14th, 2015. (3.1415).