The real-time #Ferguson conversation

"The eyes of the world are watching," said Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon on Saturday afternoon. The unfolding situation in Ferguson following the shooting of Mike Brown ignited social media, helping propel the story into the national consciousness. The protests and heavily armed police response escalated a smaller incident into an international conversation around race, class, policing and militarization. After a full week, some of the most incisive commentary is still only on social media. The visualization below represents the real-time conversation around #Ferguson. People arguing their points of view, debating sources of information, presenting false narratives and hunting for the truth is a representation of the national mood. Vine videos, drone shots, Facebook posts and tweets are bits of a much broader question: What does Ferguson mean for America, and what is the way forward?