The above map depicts an important new geopolitical boundary: being inside and outside of Facebook. Over the last few hundred years global maps have divided territory into the administrative units of countries. (Maps being the visual construct that actually produce the imagined territory.) Newer spatial realities, however, are driven by the flow or inhibition of information. One's physical location is just a single variable in the multitude of virtual projections possible in the networked world. Although country borders are still highly controlled, the movement of thoughts and ideas follow more fluid paths.

The UnFacebook World Map is a remix of two popular images: NASA's Earth at Night, and Facebooks' Friendship Map. By subtracting the Facebook map from the NASA one, we end up with a new kind of tension between two zones: the ancient technologies of situated human settlement (rendered visible by electric light) and disembodied electronic communication.

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The UnFacebook World Map was originally posted on my blog in July 2011 and has since been featured in The Atlantic, FlowingData, visua.ly, Business Insider, MetaFilter and Curiosity Counts.