Twitter search helps scientists plot language differences worldwide

With thousands of tweets being set every second, scientists have tapped into the social network as a great research tool.

Before your “Facebook feed alarm” starts sounding, rest assured the researchers just looked at tweets that had been sent in Spanish and used GPS data included in the tweets to plot them on a map.

They were keen to find out how different words for the same things – think pavement and sidewalk in English – are used worldwide.