Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Determined background investigators could make something of "Likeonomics" (Facebook and elsewhere)
Adi Kadmar and David Maass, in an article for Electronic Frontier Foundation, point to studies showing what most of us have long suspected: that one can infer a lot about a person from his or her Facebook likes, especially if there are lot of them and the person actually
uses Facebook “socially”. The link is here. The same could be true in many other media, such as YouTube.
Actually, I wondered this years ago about the “About Me” page of Hometown AOL. During my forensics of my incident when substitute teaching (July 27, 2007) I noticed that my page had been accessed (it no longer exists on AOL) for evidence of my “intentions” behind my fictive screenplay that had them upset. It might not be such a good thing to “Like” the movie “Edge of 17”.
I suppose if a male person “likes” a disproportionate number of young adult, “attractive” male media stars (instead of athletes), I suppose that is a pretty good predictor that he is gay.
It’s striking how social media have come full circle, from allowing free entry for self-publication, to becoming almost a required too for social conformity. It’s not so good that just one company “rules the world”, no matter how benevolent its founder or lovable his pooch.
I guess some buzzwords like “Likeonomics” and “Reid-ing 101” do take on double entendres.
What does it say if someone “likes” the Mahler 6th? Believe or not, that was a standing joke in my Army barracks in 1969. The cohort of men was much better educated than average.