Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: On Facebook, You Are Who You Know

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Posts
    2,404
    Rep Power
    0

    Default On Facebook, You Are Who You Know

    In a study conducted by Alan Mislove of Northeastern University and his colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, researchers tested an algorithm that could accurately infer the personal attributes of Facebook users by simply looking at their friend lists.
    Researchers developed an algorithm to see if they could accurately infer attributes like high school or college, department of study, hometown, graduation year and even dormitory by dissecting these users’ friend lists. The study cut to the core of the debate surrounding the social-networking site: Is your personal profile your own or, to paraphrase anti-Facebook crusader Leif Harmsen, is it the site’s profile about you?
    According to the study, only about 5 percent of users in each network had changed their privacy settings to make their friend list inaccessible. (To hide it, enter your Facebook profile, click on the edit icon above your friends and unclick the blue box marked “Show Friend List to everyone.”) In the New Orleans network, personal profiles remained largely accessible to researchers. Some 58 percent of users disclosed university attended, 42 percent disclosed employers, 35 percent disclosed interests and 19 percent gave the public access to their location.

    Because of this information given, Mislove explained that it was relatively easy for his algorithm to accurately pinpoint attributes such as geography (dormitory or hometown) or education background (which high school or college users attend) for a specific user.
    You are who you know

    I can see the paranoids diving for their FB accounts now to cull their info and fine tune their privacy setup . Don't worry, it's already too late, as your info is securely and permanently stored on the servers .

    To tell the truth, I have used FB as a way to find out various things about my friends. And I think others have done the same to me. I know MY profile has stuff that can be used to make a pretty accurate personality/background profile of who I am. And I have friends from all walks of life ...
    Rooted OnePlus 2 64GB Ed, Android 5.1.1 OxygenOS ; on teifin' AT&T's network; Rooted ASUS Transformer TF101 w/ dock, Android 5.1 KatKiss; Laptop: ASUS X550C, 2.0GHzx2, 8GB, 512GB SSD, Kubuntu 15.10;
    Facebook page: Skeleville Technology Solutions

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    802
    Rep Power
    0

    Default

    interesting topic...
    ...

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Posts
    785
    Rep Power
    0

    Default

    I use facebook for networking. I never know if I might need a FB friend to refer me to a job. However, I only have about 110 friends and they are people the I actually know. Too bad the survey skipped over me because I make sure that every part of my profile is set to "Only Friends" I dont need anyone trying to grab my info.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    149
    Rep Power
    0

    Default

    mi alwaz have mi privacy on fi friends alone never cyan be too careful
    computer cell phone sales services and repairs 24/7 technician
    ldougharty@yahoo.com add to msn or yahoo messenger
    twitter @hotheadzo
    4382112 digicel

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •