"Is It a Day to Be Happy? Check the Index"

Researchers used two years of anonymous "status updates" to create a new Gross National Happiness Index, unveiled last Monday by Facebook.

The index is an attempt to say something profound based on the reports of daily life that Facebook users impose on — um, share with — their friends.The idea, one that is generally accepted in social psychology, is that word choice can reveal a person’s mood.

This is true in ordinary writing, these experts say, and even more so in writing like Facebook updates or the tweets of Twitter users, which ostensibly are attempts to describe what you are doing right now and how you feel. (While tweets limn the psyche in 140-character installments, Facebook updates are downright Augustinian, with some running as long as 420 characters.)

Read the entire NY Times article here. Check out the Happiness Index here.