Big Data Can Reveal Darkest Secrets

August 8, 2017

Surveys for long have been used by social and commercial organizations for collecting data. However, with easy access to Big Data, it seems people while responding to surveys, lie more than thought about earlier.

In an article by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz published by The Guardian and titled Everybody Lies: How Google Search Reveals Our Darkest Secrets, the author says:

The power in Google data is that people tell the giant search engine things they might not tell anyone else. Google was invented so that people could learn about the world, not so researchers could learn about people, but it turns out the trails we leave as we seek knowledge on the internet are tremendously revealing.

As per the author, impersonal and anonymity of Internet and ease of access is one of the primary reasons why Internet users reveal their darkest secrets to Google (in form of queries).

Big Data which is a form of data scourged from various sources can be a reliable source of information. For instance, surveys say that around 10% of American men are gay. Big Data, however, reveals that only 2-3% of men are actually gay. To know more about interesting insights on Big Data, courtesy Google, read the article here.

Vishal Ingole, August 8, 2017

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