The definition of data mining, according to Merriam-Webster, is "the practice of searching through large amounts of computerized data to find useful patterns or trends." Social media has become an integral part of our everyday lives; and, whether we realize it or not, our personal data is being shared. For most, a Facebook post or tweet intended to update friends and family may seem innocent enough but the information we divulge is being put to use.
In 2010 blog post entitled "How Happy Are We?", Facebook published a short study based on status updates from three English speaking countries: United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. The intent was to determine what part of the year citizens were the most happy. The analysis was as straightforward as searching for words that denote happiness as recommended by social psychologists.
In another study by Microsoft, data from Twitter posts were analyzed for 376 expecting mothers. In the study, researchers claimed that they could accurately predict emotional and behavioral changes. Data was truncated into two groups; prenatal and postpartum. Predictions based on prenatal data accuracy was 71% and postpartum accuracy jumped to 83%.
Data in the Facebook study claimed to be anonymized while no claim either way was made in the Microsoft study. Recently, emphasis has been placed on how to protect data from other individuals. Facebook has a dedicated page to help it's users protect themselves against other users and it even has a page detailing what information it uses about users. However, it does not allow users to opt-out of data mining altogether.
While there are clear benefits to data mining for social media sites, the public should remember that their information can (and will) be used without their consent.
