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Kids Curse, Oldsters Ramble: Facebook Study

Analysts probe data for behavioral trends

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Dec 28, 2010 10:13 AM CST

(Newser) – You can learn a lot when you’re listening to 550 million people. Using linguistic software, Facebook analysts investigated what people were saying in status updates, and came up with a number of interesting trends, Business Insider reports:

  • The oldsters chatter quite a bit: Status update length was the best way to predict age. Older people also tend to talk more about religion and family.

  • The young, meanwhile, leave out articles and prepositions, tend to curse more, and use the word “I” frequently.
  • Those who use “you” a lot tend to have more friends.
  • People have positive outlooks in the morning, the time of more upbeat statuses. After 10pm, there’s a negativity surge.
  • Negative status updates garner more comments than positive ones.
  • Friends use similar vocabularies, especially when discussing family and religion or using swear words.

Facebook.com's mastermind, Mark Zuckerberg smiles at his office in Palo Alto, Calif., Monday, Feb. 5, 2007.
Facebook.com's mastermind, Mark Zuckerberg smiles at his office in Palo Alto, Calif., Monday, Feb. 5, 2007.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 9 comments
red_ox
Dec 28, 2010 4:38 PM CST
Its a good time to be a sociologist/anthropologist with the explosion in social networking sites.
Your-Average-Joe
Dec 28, 2010 12:36 PM CST
Interesting stats, but who the heck care's? After the Bush-Cheney era of illegal wire taping it is pretty common knowledge everything you say on the phone or type on the computer to anyone was being monitored by big brother.
SC23
Dec 28, 2010 11:02 AM CST
Here is a scary thought... just think for a moment..hypothetically of course.. what Nazi Germany would have done with the information available on Facebook.. political leanings..friends and relationships.. Now be glad we dont live in a time where the govt monitors all we say and who we are friends with. Maybe its just me being tin-foil hat..or maybe just maybe..we shouldnt throw away our privacy quite so willingly.
 

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