Sherlock Holmes was notorious for taking the smallest, seemingly most insignificant details, and deducing a great deal about someone. The conclusions that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s hero jumped to were fantastic. Dr. Watson never ceased his amazement and readers, likewise, were left wondering what thought process lead Holmes to such scarily accurate conclusions. What if you were the subject of such analysis? Wouldn’t you feel a little exposed after Sherlock used his incredible deduction skills to reveal your inner most secrets?
Sherlock Holmes was notorious for taking the smallest, seemingly most insignificant details, and deducing a great deal about someone. The conclusions that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s hero jumped to were fantastic. Dr. Watson never ceased his amazement and readers, likewise, were left wondering what thought process lead Holmes to such scarily accurate conclusions. What if you were the subject of such analysis? Wouldn’t you feel a little exposed after Sherlock used his incredible deduction skills to reveal your inner most secrets?
Robert Lee Hotz wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal that claims people are likely putting out a lot more information about themselves than they realize. The focus of the article centered on “Likes”. Through a deep analysis of the Facebook Like, Hotz holds the contention that analysts can review an individual’s likes and extract a plethora of knowledge on a whole host of subjects. Political ideology, religious affiliation, marital status, and personal habits were all deduced with a high degree of accuracy.
Sherlock…Eat your heart out.
But, unlike the Great Detective, the study was reported to have a margin for error, revealing that the sword of social media is double-edged. Many use social media for the obvious reason for socializing, and therefore sharing personal information. Often times it has the favorable outcome of positive experience and valuable networking. With Facebook, the use of the Like option is common practice and natural extension of socializing. However, it is a reasonable assumption to say that the vast majority of people still have information they don’t feel the need to share.
However, there are groups and organizations that would jump at the chance to have a formula or specialist able to break Likes down into useable information.
Marketers, investigators, and potential employers would find the temptation of reading people more effectively hard to resist. A particular “Like” might convince a prospective employer that you may not be the right fit. Office holders would need to exercise caution with each “Like” because it is subject to vicious scrutiny. A couple of unpopular “Likes” might lead to some pesky rumors and gossip for any high school student.
Even if a person is not particularly insightful, people still have a habit of jumping to conclusions based on your preferences. Those conclusions, especially if wrong, could come back to haunt the Facebook user.
While not everybody is Sherlock Holmes, it couldn’t hurt to beware of Professor Moriarty.
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