Lexicon: Facebook and data mining

by Mark Stegman | 1:42 AM in , , |

Fun with Lexicon
Lexicon is Facebook’s data mining software that currently is being sold to the highest bidder; a sample of which is available for Facebook users here @Lexicon. The stripped down Lexicon program available to everyone can graph up to five, two-word phrases quantifying the amount of times a word or phrase was written on a Facebook “wall” over the last year.

For marketers and major corporations this technology and data base can remove a lot of the risk involved with business investment decisions by testing society in order to understand exactly what will work and what will not work avoiding costly and time consuming market research studies. Privacy advocates, on the other hand, believe that their information should not be used for purposes that they did not intend for.

For now, it’s time to “have fun, with Lexicon!” Yay (play music) confetti falls from the sky…Yay. Check out some of my Lexicon graphs

You must have a Facebook account to see these and be logged in. Not my rules...enjoy.

Ford, Toyota, Volkswagon, GM, Chevy
Bored, Happy, Sad, Lonely, Curious
Good, Bad
Sell, Trade, Buy, Rent, Steal
rss, atom, sitemap
Born, Died
Hooked up, Broke up,Brake up, married, divorce
Married, Divorce, Bitch
Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist
Abortion, Pro choice, Pro life
Fraternity, Soroity, Frat house, Off capus, Dorms
Loan, Broke, Worried, Second job, Stripper
Pepsi, Coke, Mountain Dew, Red Bull, Water


Scoble's FF conversation on privacy w/ great links about social network sites Terms of Service (TOS)

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous on September 15, 2009 at 8:08 PM

    I like this post, but I do not like Lexicon. The word pairings that you suggest at the end are nice for giving the device mainstream appeal for a quick search and a quick 'aha' moment.

    But do you actually like Lexicon on FB for more than that?

    I do not, and would be curious to see why someone else does? It's only functionality is very surface level. At this point, the user interface is pretty amazingly terrible for being basically a search engine with graphing component.

    I could write down specific issues, but isn't it more fun for you to go see how unpleasant the experience can be? www.facebook.com/lexicon . Wait til your FB turns to characters, and you can't read the graph, and there's no vertical axis... you'll start to get why I think this tool is young and needs development, or will be deemed useless and replaced.

    Watch me get called out for being a N008 or something - but whatever - I did not like it, and I'm happy to hear why I'm wrong or just expecting too much.

    Thanks for letting me rant on your blog *I hope*.

    Best,
    IR
    @ianredman

     
  2. Cincinnati SEO on March 23, 2010 at 1:41 AM

    I sincerely appreciate your comments! You are participating in "Perspectives" by offering yours. The idea of Perspectives is that if enough people communicate their perspective of an issue or idea then the shape and outline of an idea or issue will become defined and it's motives, purpose, and identification become more apparent. I applaud your blog post, it reminds me of a Bukowski poem where two guys overheat in an old beater underneath the poets window from where he watches them get out of the car, look at each other, pass a jug of water between them and get back in the car an go; he says (those were the realest people he has seen in town in months). Your post is the realest response I have seen in months. Thank you.

    I am excited about the understanding of human behavior that is represented in these graphs. Graph data like the popular Twitter words during the Super Bowl, popular topics on Twitter, and Google top 40 popular searches excite me because they help identify not only how much humans respond to social influences but also how as individual beings we act like waves; the human being is like a light particle, we act as individual atoms (our self) as well as in light waves (society, pop culture).

    Statistical programs like this are undoubtedly going to play a large role in our future.

     

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