Tech Quote: Twitter Seismograph - Predict the Future?

Brian Solis Wiki

“Twitter represents a collective collaboration that manifests our ability to unconsciously connect kindred voices through the experiences that move us. As such, Twitter is a human seismograph.”

                                                     
                       – Brian Solis, Principal of FutureWorks

A seismograph is an instrument for revealing & capturing various types of activity in the earth's ground (especially to forecast earthquakes).  Solis sees Twitter is the instrument used to reveal and capture the world's social activity and opinion.

The WebBot Project analysis of social trends

Some computer science projects - such as the WebBot Probject- even believe this level of specific information can forecast future events.  Just like the seismograph can forecast earthly events such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, etc.  Can we measure social opinion to find patterns that predict the future?