Study: Bloggers Are Happy

Ok, maybe not “happy” but at least happier than they used to be. According to “Measuring the Happiness of Large-Scale Written Expression: Songs, Blogs, and Presidents“, a research report from Peter Dodds and Christopher Danforth, two mathematicians from Vermont University, the general mood of bloggers seems to be in an upward trend since 2005.

Starting August 2005 to June 2009, the two researchers have collected keyword density throughout the blogosphere for terms starting with “I Feel”. Then, they charged the results inside an application that analyzed the terms and ranked them from 1 (I feel bad, miserable, suicidal) to 9 (I feel awesome, great, triumphant,)

The result didn’t really surprise anyone. The happiness factor varied greatly within a year, sharply going up and down during holidays (Christmas, Valentine day, etc.). Maybe a bit more surprising is that the happiest day throughout the study is the day when Obama got elected.

In any cases, the final results are encouraging; the happiness curve is up 4% compared to what it was in 2005.

If you want to see how your emotional state compares to others from around the globe, check out We Feel Fine, a data collection engine that harvests human feelings from the blogosphere, and if you’re curious about the study, it is currently available online via this page.

[Picture Source: icanhascheezburger]