Social media is being used more and more creatively in efforts to drive attention toward media campaigns. The London Eye will be the next vessel to provide the basis of a new experiment.

During the Olympic Games, which get underway in less than a week, the London Eye will do something unique at 21h00 and 22h00: it will show how Brits feel about the Olympics.

Developed in partnership with a group of graduates from MIT, the light show on the 120-meter tall London landmark will see it illuminated to display visual representations of what Brits think about the London 2012 Olympics, as interpreted through their tweets.

Each night during the games, the light show will start off by illuminating a proportion of the London Eye to represent the percentage of “positive energy” felt towards the games. This is calculated using an algorithm that linguistically analyses tweets about the Games from across the UK, and splits them into positive and negative conversations.

This could go either way, given some sentiments toward the Games.

The “Energy of the Nation” result will then be followed by displays of the Union Flag and gold, silver or bronze lighting, to highlight the top sporting moments of the day, or, put simply: to celebrate the colour of the medals won by Team GB.

Justin Manor, Founder of Sosolimited, which developed the technology for the light show:

The algorithm we developed converts real-time social emotions into color and motion – tweets to light show. We distill 24 hours of action into a 24-minute visual concert that embodies the emotional peaks and troughs of the day.

EDF Energy says:

In today’s digital world, the highs, lows and unfolding drama of the London 2012 Olympics will be transmitted within minutes across social media channels. As the official electricity supplier of the Games, EDF Energy will be measuring the nation’s reactions to London 2012 – the highs, lows, triumphs and glories – on Twitter and turning the sentiment into a social media driven light show every night at 9pm and 10pm on the EDF Energy London Eye. This will be the world’s first social media driven lightshow, showcasing the nation’s excitement towards London 2012 in lights.

Regular 2oceansVibe readers may remember BOS Ice Tea’s BEV, the Twitter-activated sampling machine, which also relied on Twitter to create awareness.

[Source: EDF]