Global Patterns of Human Synchronization

TL;DR

This study analyzes Twitter communication patterns worldwide, revealing how natural and social cycles influence urban activity and identifying emerging global synchrony across distant regions.

Contribution

It uncovers the existence of a new form of global social synchrony that couples behaviors across different urban areas worldwide.

Findings

Urban areas exhibit cyclic contraction and expansion linked to social cycles.

Different cities have unique signatures of daily collective activity.

Emerging global synchrony couples distant regions' behaviors.

Abstract

Social media are transforming global communication and coordination and provide unprecedented opportunities for studying socio-technical domains. Here we study global dynamical patterns of communication on Twitter across many scales. Underlying the observed patterns is both the diurnal rotation of the earth, day and night, and the synchrony required for contingency of actions between individuals. We find that urban areas show a cyclic contraction and expansion that resembles heartbeats linked to social rather than natural cycles. Different urban areas have characteristic signatures of daily collective activities. We show that the differences detected are consistent with a new emergent global synchrony that couples behavior in distant regions across the world. Although local synchrony is the major force that shapes the collective behavior in cities, a larger-scale synchronization is beginning to occur.