Scottish referendum: Map reveals global interest in referendum

Click on BBC Scotland's interactive TweetMap to see what people said on polling day

Click on BBC Scotland's interactive TweetMap to see what people said on polling day

By Marc Ellison
Data journalist, BBC Scotland

Thousands of people across the globe have tweeted messages of support and encouragement as Scotland awaits the decision on its independence from the United Kingdom.

BBC Scotland has so far collated 13,670 geo-tagged tweets and developed an interactive map to see when, what, and where people are tweeting from, using the #indyref hashtag.

It's no surprise the epicentre for tweets is Scotland (more than 5,900) and England (more than 4,700), but there are also posts coming from as far away as Algeria, Fiji, North Korea, and Sierra Leone.

Twitter activity has been monitored since the polls opened at 0700 today, and the map will be updated hourly until approximately 0700 on 19 September when Scotland's future should have been decided.

You can explore the INTERACTIVE MAP developed by BBC Scotland to see just what people around the world have been saying so far on polling day.

For accuracy BBC Scotland is only collating posts from geo-tagged Twitter accounts - accounts that specify a longitude and latitude for tweets - which typically only accounts for 1% of tweets.

Here's just a small selection of what people around the world have said so far:

  • "In Latin America, at school, we are taught #Scotland as a country, today it will finally be true #indyref #voteyes" (Angola);

  • "Just hope in the morning Scotland is still part of the UK #voteno #bettertogether #nogoingback #indyref" (Cyprus);

  • "No guns or bullets just the right to self determination. It's about the future not the past #indyref #ScotlandDecides" (Venezuala);

  • "I Pray #Scotland still remains part of D #UK by the End of Today. I'm not just a fan of #Divorce. #BetterTogether #ProUnion #indyref #VoteNo" (Nigeria);

  • "No matter what the outcome....Scotland will be different. #indyref" (Estonia).

The people of Scotland went to the polls on 18 September to vote in the independence referendum.

They were asked the "Yes/No" question: "Should Scotland be an independent country?"

Click on BBC Scotland's interactive TweetMap to see what people said on polling day