Mosquitoes create the worst sort of Twitter buzz. Ask anyone in Bemidji.
The northern Minnesota city ranks nationally when it comes to complaining about mosquitoes on Twitter. This according to the extermination corporation Terminix, which combed through 200 billion tweets to locate the source of that high-pitched whine on your Twitter feed every summer.
Bemidji, where all the mosquitoes are above average, ranked seventh in the nation in per capita complaints about Minnesota's state bird.
The mosquito rants that swarm out of big cities every summer can't compare to the wrath of small towns with big bug problems. Among the small cities whose Twitter feeds are "humming with complaints," according to Terminix, Goodland, Kan., led the nation, followed by Safford, Az., and Bowling Green, Ky.
Are the mosquitoes really that bad up in Bemidji? A quick check of Twitter indicates, yes. Yes they are.
But not so fast, Terminix. Bemidji Mayor Rita Albrecht disputes the ranking. Maybe the rural areas might have some Tweet-worthy mosquito problems, but not her town.
"I've never had a complaint come to me about mosquitoes," she said in an email Monday. "We do not have a mosquito control program because we don't need one. I can enjoy my yard with hardly any pestering from the little buggers."
Now, Albrecht's hometown? That's another story.
"I'm originally from Big Falls, MN in the middle of the big bog," she wrote. "That could be called the mosquito capital. They practically pick you up and carry you away up there."
