Interactive marketing and creative design agency SapientNitro is sending friends a bespoke 3D-printed Christmas ornament that was created using their social network data.
The company used a data-visualization algorithm to transform the information into a star-shaped decoration. Each of its points and their lengths indicate how many Facebook friends the person has in different places around the world.
The "SapientNitro Social Media Engineered Christmas Bauble of Friendship" comes in over-the-top Christmas packaging and includes a fold-out infographic map that recipients can place their star on to see their galaxy of friends.
"Christmas is a time for thinking about friends and loved ones, for giving and receiving, overindulging in luridly coloured paper hats, corny jokes and the latest electronic gadgets available," says Malcolm Poynton, chief creative officer at SapientNitro. "SapientNitro has taken all that and given it a good shake to end up with a unique gift for each of our friends -- a beautifully engineered 3D data visualization depicting individuals’ social connections in the form of a sparkling Christmas tree decoration. All you have to do is add the tree."