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As weary as I and others might be of the breathless microblogging-as-miracle media narrative,

And yet, I still think that at its core Twitter is simply right now’s next big thing, sure to be knocked off its pedestal by Google Wave or something else sooner or later. Moreover, it is following the predictable tech startup arc almost perfectly: Stage 1. Confusing blog buzz  Stage 2. Reactionary doomcrying about whatyouhadforbreakfast status updates Stage 3. Noticed by NPR, which flogs it to death Stage 4. Takes off in a big way Stage 5. Creators sell for billions or arrange an IPO (this is where we are currently) Stage 6. Finally, either A) relative stability (Facebook) or B) meteoric decline (MySpace)

Data visualization is the practice of summarizing vast amounts of information in graphical form. For a quick primer on the subject, see the examples at Information Aesthetics and the Periodic Table of Visualization Methods, or watch Gapminder creator Hans Rosling demonstrate the “beauty of statistics” in his TED presentation on global health.