Social media can forecast the future by predicting riots, revolutions and whether it’s going to rain, researchers claim

A team from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Washington have collated the results of hundreds of separate studies and found that social media can  “make predictions about the future” – although these forecasts are not always accurate.

“Social media (SM) data provides a vast record of humanity’s everyday thoughts, feelings, and actions at a resolution previously unimaginable,” the academics wrote.

“Because user behaviour on SM is a reflection of events in the real world, researchers have realised they can use SM in order to forecast, making predictions about the future.”

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