The New York Times featured a paper in the Summer issue of the Journal of Economic Perspectives that used Facebook data to map social connectedness in the US. Authors Michael Bailey, Rachel Cao, Theresa Kuchler, Johannes Stroebel, and Arlene Wong created a “Social Connectedness Index” based on Facebook friendship links, providing the first comprehensive measure of friendship networks on a national level. The Times used that index to create an interactive map that shows the probability that someone would have a friendship link within 50 to 500 miles.