Generally, there are people who ignore their online accounts, except for online shopping, but it can still give you a glimpse of their past. Even shopping history can give you an idea of their needs and interests. Again, it just depends on how much you post and the content. I don't think we realize just how much we put on the world wide web and how much information we give our friends and strangers. This blog is a basic guide to logical deduction on social media.
What We Post Online
Let's start with posts that are shared. We share so many humorous or serious posts all across our social media that we don't think about the messages others receive about us through them. They reveal our sense of humor and what we care about. They may even reveal our politics and beliefs if you share a lot of one theme. For example, if you share positive articles about a politician, you may just support them. If you share them all the time you are definitely supporting them. If one has a dark sense of humor their page will be full of that humor. Your interests are revealed by what you consistently share. Bottom line, look for a theme and consistently shared content.
Next, we move on to the pictures. Some don't share pictures of themselves, but others may tag them in pictures and those will show up on their page. Pictures show who we are connected to, where we go, who we have met in our lifetime, and who's important to us. Also, it may tell you favorite colors, clothing styles, our favorite clothes, posture, and physical preferences. Another important concept here is who is consistently in the pictures with us. So, for instance, if you are dating someone for two plus years, they will show up in pictures for two plus years. Whether you posted the pictures or someone tagged you in it, it can be analyzed for information.
Moving on, we look at what we posted, not counting pictures. Status updates about our lives show up consistently, every once in a while, rarely, or not at all depending on who you are. Whenever they show up, they can tell us quite a bit about our mental state and what is going in our lives, blatantly or subtly.
1. Subtle - Subtle clues to character are in what we say online. We can look at the tone and the emojis used to figure out if someone is in a good or bad mood. Add to that, if the post is directed towards any ongoing drama. Some posts mean exactly what was written with no undertones, while others include undertones of situations we don't see.
2. blatant - It means what it said. Examples include "I'm having a movie night at ....... See you there!" "I am thankful for my family in this time of grief." "That movie was so awesome! Y'all should go see it." Simple, straight-forward, no hidden meanings.
Liking pages can mean nothing or something, so be aware of that. Don't go off of that alone when
trying to profile someone off their social media. I hit "like" on a lot of things, and so do a lot of you readers, so having a million likes is a sign to not read too far into that. Whos' posts you like may mean something, though, if you consistently like their posts. It reveals a connection to someone. Be careful reading into that, too.
Groups that we get involved in reveal our real interests. I am involved in a facebook group for Nancy Drew Game Fans and Nancy Drew books. I am also involved in a group about the county I live in. This is a good example of good information for your snooping. It reveals my fandom interest and where I live in one shot. With this example, you can obviously see that groups are important. It connects us to others, too, so add personal connections to the list.
Events that they have been to or are interested in show up on Facebook. If an event has been ignored entirely and doesn't say interested or going on it, don't include it in your logical deductions. Events that interest us reveal what our interests are and what we prioritize. For example, I'm a cosplayer and one would find Hall of Fame Comic Con in my list of attended events. It's simple and may even reveal politics or beliefs.
Pinterest Boards are wonderfully easy to read interests from. I don't have to say much else on this topic, but I wanted to include it because Pinterest is social media. Want to know someone's interest and they have one? Just follow their boards. Also, shared boards reveal friendship and events planned together.
Finally, we get to followers and friends lists. Look for those that are already connected personally in any of the above ways to find those closest to someone. Even on Pinterest. If one name comes up in five places you are looking at a friend or family member. Facebook even allows you to mark someone as a family or close friend. It makes it easy to see who dated who.
Pulling All This Together
That was a lot of information, but when it all comes together we have a full picture of someone, with a few holes here and there. We only show the world some of us online, so that comes as no surprise. Something else to consider is that anyone can be anything online. When done right, a fake profile can look real. That's called catfishing. The above is only accurate if someone isn't lying.
I hope this helped you with your logical deduction skills. Online profiling is best when paired with people watching and knowing the individual in person. You get an accurate reading that way. *Please don't use to illegally stalk someone!*
Pictures:
Make a Website hub
stack overflow
cleanPNG
vox.com
No comments:
Post a Comment