[robhawkes]

In this case, you're likely right but the effect is offset by the lack of tweets and huge vacuum in the areas below Russia. The geometry is preserved as much as possible so the vacuum will pull Russia (which at least has some tweets) down to fill.

[oriste]

Aha. So you're saying we can't compare e.g. the tweet volumes of the UK or France with Russia based on the size of the country as depicted on your map? BTW Canada and Greenland seem out of proportion as well. But regardless, I've been hooked on this map since I found out about it this morning. Fascinating.

[robhawkes]

Effectively, yes. Just because a country is bigger / smaller than another doesn't mean that you can draw immediate conclusions about the relationship between those countries. A bloated country basically means that it's sending proportionately more global tweets than it's geographic area would suggest.