

Using Gallup phone surveys, Twitter-based estimation reaches accuracies of r =. 54 (when training and comparing against CDC surveys, out-of-sample), which exceeds the predictive power of log. county life satisfaction from Twitter has improved from r =. For example, the cross-sectional prediction of U.S. The methods for assessment have undergone substantial improvement over the last decade. To use social media data, such as Twitter, to assess well-being on a large-scale promises to be cost-effective, available near real-time, and with a high spatial resolution (for example, down to town, county, or zip code levels). Social media data has become the largest cross-sectional and longitudinal dataset on emotions, cognitions, and behaviors in human history.

