Tangled in an endless web of distractions

Tangled Up in Blues
Tangled Up in Blues (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Colleges are limiting access to social media during classes due to concerns about impacts on learning.

Tangled in an endless web of distractions – Boston.com.

Dan Zarrella: Social media science and Twitter linguistic analysis

This UML diagram describes the domain of Linke...
This UML diagram describes the domain of LinkedIn social networking system. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dan is an interesting guy with a strong web and social networking background. He is a social media scientist and has designed a number of linguistic tools to analyze online behavior.

My Bio | Dan Zarrella.

Using video to re-invent education (TEDTalks)

English: Salman Khan, famous for the Khan Acad...
English: Salman Khan, famous for the Khan Academy, speaking at TED 2011. Cropped from the original. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

An excellent overview of the potential of online video to re-invent education by hedge fund analyst and creator Salman Khan.

 

Salman Khan: Lets use video to reinvent education | Video on TED.com.

 

 

 

Selectminds: Social Recruiting and Community Management Software

Image representing SelectMinds as depicted in ...
Image via CrunchBase

Social Recruiting and Community Management Software.

Data mining dating

An example of one of True's online ads.
An example of one of True’s online ads. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

via www.boston.com

An interesting article that notes that 22% of heterosexuals in one recent study met online and the findings of recent data mining analysis of online dating sites which is surpassing other social science methods in identifying patterns in behavior such as male and female preferences for mates. However what is notably missing is any information on cultural or environmental factors in these findings.

The phone call is dead

English: Flowers by the phone A closer look at...
English: Flowers by the phone A closer look at the directories and flowers in Balmerino’s fabulous phone-box. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

via www.wired.com

Google Ngram Viewer: Sciences vs. Religion

Usage statistics from English books, according...
Usage statistics from English books, according to Google Ngram Viewer. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Google Ngram Viewer.

HowAboutWe: accidental anthropologists capitalize on the principle of homophily in online dating

Image representing HowAboutWe as depicted in C...
Image via CrunchBase

Recently social data science has found fertile new ground in the booming field of online dating. By tweaking algorithms to increase the likelihood of a match, many online dating sites are becoming defacto behavioral science labs, constantly analyzing what makes people want to hang out, or start a relationship. Now along comes another company that is capitalizing on the principle of homophily: the fact that in general people like lemmings  like to do what they see others doing. One month is it is taco joints, the next month fondue.

HowAboutWe | Online Dating 

Social network analysis science detects Medicare fraud, terrorisms plots

English: A diagram of a .
English: A diagram of a . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Fascinating article which shows how social network analysis (SNA)science is being used in the business world including everything from finding Saddam Hussein (by mapping his chauffeurs’ habits online) to identifying healthcare fraud.

Mining social networks: Untangling the social web | The Economist.