Yahoo Pipes are a pretty cool way to create mashups fast and this post will teach you how to plot your Twitter followers or friends on a map and embed it into your blog in less than five minutes!

Yes, five minutes, set your stopwatch running... now!

There are two pipes to choose from, one for your Twitter followers and one for your Twitter friends. The first one requires your Twitter password (and sends it over an unencrypted connection) so it might be best to try the one for your friends first.

Click the link and enter your Twitter username. Click “Run pipe” and wait a few seconds...

Can you see a map?

Great! Look above the map, at the left and click “Get as a badge” link. Choose settings to match your blog (you can adjust the size too) and follow the on-screen instructions. I was impressed by how well the Yahoo team had integrated with Blogger, TypePad and iGoogle - less impressed for WordPress but that needs a theme edit to embed it into your sidebar.

And here are the finished results:

Feed viewers, to see the map, you’ll need to click through to the article.

Pretty damn cool!

Stop the clock! Was that under five minutes?

By the way, you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/andymurd, if you’re interesting I might even follow you back.