An Intrusive Twitter Algorithm Could Determine Your Gender Based on Tweets
Omar Yusuf — July 28, 2011 — Social Media
References: theatlanticwire & gizmodo
Whether you post under a pseudonym, an imaginary character or as yourself, the Mitre Corporation will figure out who you are, thanks to a new Twitter algorithm the company developed.
Based on sociolinguistics (i.e. the phraseologies of different groups), a creepy Twitter algorithm is capable of combing through your tweets and instantly determining your gender with 75.8% accuracy. To build this algorithm, the Mitre research team had to investigate the language used by men and women in cyberspace; and just how exactly do genders differ in word selection? Well, words like "shopping" and phrases like "awww" appeared disproportionally in the tweets of women.
That isn't to say that women exclusively talk about shopping, but certain words do tend to give away the messenger's gender. This information is of increasing importance to advertisers who, in an attempt to accurately target customers, will pay outrageous fees to get their hands on it.
Based on sociolinguistics (i.e. the phraseologies of different groups), a creepy Twitter algorithm is capable of combing through your tweets and instantly determining your gender with 75.8% accuracy. To build this algorithm, the Mitre research team had to investigate the language used by men and women in cyberspace; and just how exactly do genders differ in word selection? Well, words like "shopping" and phrases like "awww" appeared disproportionally in the tweets of women.
That isn't to say that women exclusively talk about shopping, but certain words do tend to give away the messenger's gender. This information is of increasing importance to advertisers who, in an attempt to accurately target customers, will pay outrageous fees to get their hands on it.
Trend Themes
1. Gender Determination - Opportunity for developing more accurate algorithms to determine gender based on social media data.
2. Sociolinguistics Analysis - Opportunity for analyzing language patterns to identify demographic information for targeted advertising.
3. Targeted Advertising - Opportunity for advertising companies to use gender data to better tailor their marketing campaigns.
Industry Implications
1. Data Analytics - Opportunity for data analytics companies to develop algorithms that can accurately determine demographic information based on social media data.
2. Marketing and Advertising - Opportunity for advertising agencies to leverage demographic information to create more targeted and effective campaigns.
3. Social Media Platforms - Opportunity for social media platforms to offer gender determination features as part of their user analytics services.
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