Last night, millions of viewers watched as Phillip Phillips was crowned "American Idol's" winner for the show's 11th season. But hours before the announcement, computer scientists had already predicted he would win after looking at relevant Twitter posts, and they published their prediction online. A key factor missing from other analyses — the geographic location of the tweets — proved critical in making the final prediction. In addition to the final prediction, the researchers also successfully predicted many of the show's earlier eliminations — a more difficult task considering the greater number of contestants. Phillip Phillips, the 11th American Idol winner. Image Credit: Fox Television via ABC News.
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