Big Data Could Cripple Facebook

http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/30/big-data-could-cripple-facebook/

by iProject • 13 years ago

13 24 13 years ago

octo_t2• 13 years ago

The idea of an employer needing to judge me based on what I say/do on Facebook makes me really uncomfortable.

Facebook is my social life, not the company's time or anything, and if I'm a decent worker + programmer just let me be? For example I swear a lot on facebook about certain current events, should I stop simply because some HR person in 2 or 3 years might look/analyse my profile and see that I use profane language?

niggler4• 13 years ago

Lets say your Facebook page was public and you rant about the company you are working for. Do you think future employers won't wonder if you will do the same if you join them?

Lets say you write something about a topic that shouldn't be discussed (wasn't there a rape case that was clinched because of social media?). Who would want to risk potential backlash in the future?

While you may think its your social life, Facebook definitely has enough reach that statements made by you could reflect poorly on your employer as well as on you.

mtgx• 13 years ago

What does "public" mean? I haven't used Facebook in like 2 years, so I don't know how their new subscribe/follow model works. Would the employer be able to just "follow" him without "friending" him and still see what he said?

octo_t2• 13 years ago

Well the first part isn't true, but what if I do? Everyone has shitty days at work where all they want to do is leave, go home and have a glass of wine and crash.

If I'm frustrated with some task, can I not say so? If I've been stuck on some problem, I can't say so to my friends?

notatoad2• 13 years ago

Okay, lets say your facebook page is public and you rant about the company you work for. That, to me, indicates some incredibly poor judgement and it absolutely should come back to haunt you.

notahacker• 13 years ago

Any HR department that believes semantic analysis of Facebook statuses is a reasonable approximation of people's actual behaviour, interests and domain knowledge deserves the idiots they'll hire and the litigation they'll face.

greenyoda2• 13 years ago

What litigation would they face? At least in the US, it's not illegal to discriminate against job candidates based on what they post on Facebook. As long as employers are not discriminating based on race, religion, sex, disability or other legally protected attributes, they're not breaking any laws.

I don't think it's a good idea, however, just like I don't think that running drug tests or credit reports on job candidates (both widespread practices) are good ideas.

pm246012• 13 years ago

The employer does not care if "The idea of an employer needing to judge me based on what I say/do on Facebook makes me really uncomfortable."

The process goes something like this:

1. octo_t sends in resume to BigCo.

2. BigCo. contracts with an outside company that uses an automated system (think big data) to troll through your twitter, facebook, HN, etc.

3. automated system rejects octo_t as a lesbian hater/drug user/or some sort of "undesirable".

BigCo. is protected from lawsuits because BigCo. didn't engage in discrimination: your resume was rejected without a human seeing it at all.

P.S. it is happening already. ( look for automated resume screening software ) ( http://news.dice.com/2012/06/22/hr-software-hinders-hiring/ )

greenyoda2• 13 years ago

"BigCo. didn't engage in discrimination: your resume was rejected without a human seeing it at all."

I don't think that argument would stand up in court. If the software you contracted to use explicitly applied screening criteria based on protected classes such as race or sex, then you would be found to be discriminating illegally.

notatoad2• 13 years ago

The idea of some sort of big data / semantic analysis being used to judge my worth is honestly rather reassuring compared to the idea of some hr drone trolling google for my name. A person is likely to unfairly misjudge you based on what they find online, an algorithm is probably a pretty fair judge of character, or if it isn't it isn't going to get used.

astar• 13 years ago

Why does Facebook have to share this data to data aggregators? At some point, the creepy corporate use of FB data will scare people from using FB to the point that the bottom line is hurt. FB just has to shut off the firehose of data, if they have any foresight

ds9• 13 years ago

They "have to" share the data because it's profitable to do so, and profit is the sole imperative of corporations.

"At some point, the creepy corporate use of FB data will scare people from using FB"

That was the point of the article: "Most people already know not to publicize individual things that reflect badly on them; once they realize that the totality of what they post can have serious repercussions, too, they’ll clam up. "

People here already understand the implications, but this assumes that millions of users will "get it" too. Maybe they will, eventually, but not as readily as the author assumes. The data-mining will progress even further than it has before the masses change their behavior.

pasbesoin• 13 years ago

Note that this all (certainly, discussion of; I don't know fully about extant realizations) goes beyond what one posts.

There is already analysis arguing (whether or not correctly) that social graphs themselves convey useful, actionable information. For example, the argument that friends of "deadbeats" are likely to be less reliable, themselves. So, if you "friend" too many people having low credit scores, this may effect you when e.g. a lender uses your Facebook graph in evaluating your suitability for a loan.

Similar concerns with regard to evaluation of insurance risk and insurability.

Knowledge asymmetry is the point of arbitrage upon which many people earn a living (and some, a quite extravagant living). Absent sufficient inhibitions (whether self-serving, e.g. Facebook's potential self-destruction; or external, e.g. regulation), people will use "big data" to this effect.

Dewie• 13 years ago

This is why I try to restrain my identity on the net not based on what I might easily be used against me today, but based on what might easily be used against me in the near future.

niggler4• 13 years ago

The general rule is that you should assume everything you say or do on the Internet is public, even if it is encrypted or purportedly private, and may be used against you in the future. Even stuff written here.

Big Data Could Cripple Facebook

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