People look at Facebook pages for a variety of reasons, mostly personal. This week’s article discusses how researchers are taking advantage of Facebook as a source of data for social research. Go to the link below and read the article. Write a reflective comment that shows you have read the article, expresses your views, and addresses my questions.
How accurate do you think the Gross National Happiness Index is? Respond to the following quotation, “The idea, one that is generally accepted in social psychology, is that word choice can reveal a person’s mood.” Do you agree that Facebook records relationships? How accurate do you think the researchers are in analyzing the ethnic and racial backgrounds of Facebook users? Mr. Pennebaker indicates in the article that the research has the potential to turn “creepy.” What would be your worst fear about how the data could be used?
9 comments:
I think to an extent the Gross National Happiness Index is accurate, but with any research there are fallbacks and those who don't fit within the results. However, people do tend to lie a lot on Facebook as well as tell the truth.
Word choice is a huge part of social psychology. How you feel that day- happy, sad, whatever- is going to be reflected in how to talk to people, how to phrase sentences, the tone of voice, etc. Song lyrics for example, which are posted very often in status, are a direct example of mood. A progression of certain negative or positive words are definitely indicators of mood.
Yes, Facebook does record relationships in the sense that you can actually see whether people start dating, get married, and when it becomes complicated or they break up. But you can also see relationships in the way people talk to each other through comments and wall posts, or the type of relationship they have with each other by the amount they post on each other's walls. (ie: more comments, probably a stronger relationship... less, not so strong).
I'm not so sure that using last names to identify ethnicity is accurate, I know plenty of people who are from one race and have a last name originating from another. What about adopted children... married names, people who use different names to protect their identity?
I think the research can turn creepy in the sense that people you don't even know are analyzing you without your permission- something which could very well turn into a legal issue. But it's also creepy because researchers can actually see that much about you even though Facebook has told you that your profile is kept private to only the people you wish to see it. That bothers me in fact- my profile is private, yet Facebook falls behind on that promise by letting universities and researches look at my page without consent.
Overall I think the research could be considered valid to an extent. I'm very close to a lot of people, but I don't get wall posts from them- that doesn't mean our relationship is any different. But I also think that Facebook has become such a big part of our lives that not getting a wall post from a close friend or boyfriend can be hurtful in the sense as them ignoring you or not caring in an actual conversation.
Some days, I wouldn't really mind hitting the deactivate account button.
I think that compared to other sources of information, concerning the mood of one person, the Gross National Happiness Index is fairly accurate. I do agree with the quotation above, if a person uses negative words than they are seen as in a negative mood while if they use positive words than they are seen as in a positive mood. I think that facebook does record ones relationships, and there have been countless news of a person being fired because of a facebook status 2 years ago, if you are a person's friend than you are able to access their information from the day they first opened a facebook account. In my opinion, the researches are fairly accurate because most people can determine their racial background simply from the way they say things or their information. In my opinion, my worst fear about how the data could be used is that my status message from when i was a teenager, will come back to haunt me ten years later.
I think that the process by which Facebook is using to determine the Gross National Happiness Index would create a fairly acurate Index. Word choice, I believe, can indicate a persons mood; Facebook doesn't allow users the option of "tone" but alongside word choice, these two relfect a persons mood and character.Facebook might be recording relationships but if people didn't want thier personal life to be used as an experiment, then they shouldn't have put it out there in the internet jungle. I don't think that the ethnic and racial backgrounds may be competely accurate because I know people who have placed a racial background that is not their own on facebook. It is true that Facebook may begin to use the information on their website in more inconspicuius ways, but after all, it is a personal choice to display ones imformation. Personally, I don't really put a lot of personal information on Facebook so unless Facebook started to reveal information from conversations with other users, I don't really have a fear.
I doubt by any chance the GNHI will be innacurate about the average ammount of facebook users who are happy.
I doubt by any chance facebook will start lurking into other people's accounts & record people's relationship.
I almost doubt that researchers are accurate in analyzing the ethnic & racial backgrounds in facebook users, empasizing ALMOST; there is a small chance of realizing the true feelings of the users.
My worst fear is that the data could be stolen from some unknown who will sooner or later, ruin one's life just to humiliate the researchers, at by any chance, take revenge on them for creating this thing, which I'm not against at all, for ruining their lives.
I think it is accurate for the most part. While Facebook is a great source for social aspects of people, people still lie. And several statuses on Facebook are ones quoting songs, movies, etc. Someone quoting a sad song may not be sad, and someone posting sad statuses for attention may not be sad either.
I think it is very true that word choice reflects mood. In literature, you can tell if someone is being bitter or sweet by analyzing what words they use. The connotations of the words we use are clear indicators of how we feel - people aren't going to knowingly use happy words when they are angry/sad.
Facebook records relationships to a certain extent. I think statuses may offer fairly accurate records of them, but that the Relationship Status part of everyone's Facebook page is much less accurate. People put marriage/dating information there for laughs all the time (saying that they are married to a close friend or unlikely person).
Again, they are probably very accurate, but there will always be the few who do not tell the truth and throw off results. To combat that, though, they could base it off not just what their Facebook says, but their profile picture and how well it matches up to their supposed race.
This data doesn't scare me at all, to be honest. Several people/groups could make use of it, but no single use of it seems threatening to me.
I think the National Happiness Index with their researches about Facebook. Facebook is now used by basically every Americans. People use it to record the relationships in the sense that you can actually see they contact their friends, date people, upload pictures to show their life, talk to other people by commenting the walls, make their own group and invite people, and people express their feelings in Facebook also. Not only America, even in Korea, there are some websites coming out which is just same as Facebook. Koreans use that program as same significant reason for Facebook, but there is a little difference. The difference is that Korean Facebook earns money alot, because people buy online stuffs to decorate their own mini homepage. I'm also the Facebook user. It is very easy to express my feeling and easy to contact people. Not even people just in Jordan, I still contact with my friends in Egypt by using Facebook.
I think that the Gross National Happiness Index is fairly accurate. I mean there are a lot of people that use Facebook and it shows how a person feels and what mood they are in. I think that the word choice is a big part of social psychology. Depending on how you feel is the way you communicate with your friends and how your friends are going to talk to you. Yes, I do agree that facebook records relationships to see who a person is dating and who is already married and if they are single. I think that using last names are really accurate, I mean I know a lot of people who have the same last name and some who are just the same race. I think that it turning "creepy" can be like people researching and keeping track of your relationships and who you go out with or whatever. It kind of seems like researchers are stalkers to you. I think that my worst fear would be that researchers are checking out my profile and who I go out with or who I'm married to. I mean I don't want people to be my stalker and like check out what I'm doing. As for my friends that's a different story. I want to keep in touch with them and want them to see how life is for me.
I believe that the Gross National Happiness index is somewhat accurate. It shows correlation between the public's happiness in time such as Christmas and the fall of the level at the time of death or loss. While studies who the link between the facebook status and the events going on in their lives, there is a restricted and myopic view when it comes to accurately sampling the feeling the people are undergoing simply through their facebook status.
Word choice, chosen by the users of facebook, for obvious reasons has huge connection to social psychology. Although they do show to some extent, the feeling the user is undergoing it does not convey the voice and tone in which the words are articulated. Especially when determining whether they are spoken in sarcasm or not.
Although researching and studying the emotions of the users of facebook will be very valid and exclusive information into the feelings of the public, i believe it is wrong for others to make such studies. It would be a violation of privacy and it would be simply creepy.
I don't think the Happiness index is that accurate because not everyone updates there status based on their mood. For example when I'm feeling happy I don't write "I'm so Happy!" I usually update my status to represent important things going on in my life. I think that word choice can help to reveal someone's mood but it doesn't completely show how your feeling that day. Other key factors are body language, facial expressions etc. I think it's fine that Facebook records relationships, it doesn't do any harm to me. I think that Facebook can't really analyze the racial backgrounds because people sometimes make up there background. The worst fear I have about the data is that it could potentially be hacked and that person could blackmail info or put it everywhere on the internet.
-Tristan
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