Thanks to the explosion of mass media and social networking, privacy seems to be little understood in the modern age. Thanks to the explosion of mass media and social networking, privacy seems to be little understood in the modern age.
London - A detailed picture of how ‘Mr and Mrs Average’ live has been built up using data from Facebook.
The study shows how men and women develop new interests as they mature – and how the genders are often out of sync.
While women tend to take exercise seriously from the age of 34, for example, the average man waits until his 45th birthday before working hard to get in shape.
Women’s interest in books peaks aged 22, while men become most into literature as they reach their 50s.
And men start to shift their focus away from the workplace after age 30, while women do not do so until eight years later. Both sexes, however, care most about fashion aged 16.
The research used anonymous data donated by thousands of Facebook users, recording the statuses, ‘likes’ and ‘interests’ they had posted on their profiles.
It found the average woman talks about television most at 44, while men peak much younger, aged 31.
Men are also most likely to see a film in a cinema at 31 – but women go out to see films most aged only 19.
Men are most interested in travel at 29, women at 27, while women talk most about food and drink at 35, and men at 38.
And if you are middle aged, a fail-safe topic for any audience is the weather – a key interest for many as they approach 60.
Stephen Wolfram, the British scientist who carried out the research, also created the Wolfram Alpha search engine used by Apple and Microsoft.
He recently said: “It’s almost shocking how much this tells us about the evolution of people’s typical interests.
“People talk less about video games as they get older, and more about politics.
“Men typically talk more about sports and technology than women – and, somewhat surprisingly to me, they also talk more about movies, television and music.”
Experts say tracking such details could mean social change is spotted sooner.
Carl Miller, of think-tank Demos, said such monitoring if done in ‘real time’ could also detect changes in the public mood. He added: “You could produce a social media version of the ‘worm’ that ran alongside speeches [on TV screens] in the leaders’ debates during the last general election, but relying on millions of voices.”
But it may alarm others who feel we are already monitored too much online, for example with ‘cookies’ tracking browsing and tailoring online adverts to our tastes. - Daily Mail