If you’ve ever wondering just how much dirt Facebook has on you — and how that data can be used when paired with advanced machine-learning — now you can find out through graphical goodness of data analytics company Wolfram Alpha. The company announced Thursday the launch of a new free feature that provides users with “personal analytics” about their Facebook accounts.
Your personal Facebook analytics includes a massive amount of information about both you and your Facebook friends, from the words you use in status updates, to what the weather was on the day you were born. It’s both awesome and frightening all at once.
To get started, simply visit Wolfram Alpha, create an account (if you don’t already have one), and sign in. Next, type in “Facebook report.” (Or just click here.) From there, you will have to approve the Wolfram Alpha Facebook app. Once that’s completed — a process that takes only a minute or so, and is well worth the effort — you’re ready to dive into a bath of personal data like you’ve never before experienced.
The amount of information Wolfram Alpha pulls on you depends, of course, on how much data you’ve input into Facebook. If you use the social network constantly, you’ll have far more to sift through than those who only log in every couple of weeks.
Wolfram Alpha breaks down each of your various stats into separate graphs and lists of information. Each of these can be expanded to see even more data, graphs, maps, word clouds, and other information tidbits that provide a new level of richness to your life’s statistics. You also have the option to share each block of information with whomever you like.
I found the statistics about when I most often post to Facebook (Wednesdays at 10am), and the breakdown of my friends (a slight majority of whom are male; but the most common name among the people I know is “Jessica”) the most interesting. You can also see the posts that generated the most feedback from your friends, maps of your friends’ hometowns, and when you uploaded certain types of content.
From a practical standpoint, the feature is more nifty than useful — unless, of course, you use your Facebook account for business or otherwise promotional purposes. In which case, you may find great value in the data feast before you.
What do you think about Wolfram Alpha’s personal analytics tool? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
