Collective behavior is observed at different scales, from cells to animal groups to societies. Recent technological advancements have enabled an unprecedented increase in our ability to collect data for how individuals behave in a group. I will show results from a long-term tracking study of honeybees, where 5000+ bees were individually tracked using barcodes over their entire lives. This data provides a detailed picture of daily behavioral differences, and reveals lifetime differences in motion and task-switching behavior among bees. Using the same framework we introduced reproductive male drones into the hive, and analysis of their in-nest motion reveals synchronized periods of high-speed “hyperactive” motion that coincide with trips outside. By comparing with other collective systems we have analyzed – including fish, rats, and cellular collectives – I will highlight basic ways how “big data” can be used to describe biological variation, and discuss ongoing work which seeks to connect observed differences to group function and environmental characteristics.