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Visualizing Friendships was created by Paul Butler, an intern on the Facebook data infrastructure engineering team. By altering the way a data visualization was presented, Paul was able to create a detailed map of the world. “Not only were continents visible, certain international borders were apparent as well. What really struck me, though, was knowing that the lines didn’t represent coasts or rivers or political borders, but real human relationships. Each line might represent a friendship made while travelling, a family member abroad, or an old college friend pulled away by the various forces of life.”

Alfred Lord Tennyson once wrote: “I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades For ever and for ever when I move.” If this statement rings true, then connectivity on such a massive scale empowers us both individually and as a global community.

The Facebook world atlas.