I've always described myself as a bit of a data lover. I use Gyroscope, an "operating system for the human body" and just to add emphasis on how much I love my personal data:
I've contemplated buying a Fitbit only to get the continuous heart rate data multiple times.
I realised the fact that I just love data and graphs last year when I went on a binge of Practical Engineering's videos and found one about building an automated irrigation system with an Arduino. In that video, he realized that making cool graphs is what is truly important for him. The strange thing about it is that I completely understand where he is coming from.
I want to make cool graphs and illustrations too! This post is the first of that kind (that I remember) which is public. Enjoy a bit of discovery in this data-filled world with me!
Now, let's talk about the most common numbers...
I joined Facebook on the 16th of February, 2010. I was 10 years and 9 months old at that point in time. Here are some common numbers from my Facebook data which you might find interesting.
And of course, to put those numbers into perspective with daily averages...
From this, we can see that I am not exactly the most active Facebook user. I would show you my session data, but I couldn't be bothered to go through that data to graph it.
Some interesting notes
Numbers are numbers, but sometimes it's a lot more interesting to look at the anomalies or "the weirder parts." This is exactly what this section is about.
I didn't vote on a poll for 5 years.
For some odd reason, I stopped voting on all (public) polls after the 24th of October, 2012. I only started voting again since the 25th of November, 2017 and have only voted on two (public) polls since that time.
I really don't know what happened, did I just stop caring about Facebook enough that I didn't interact or is there data missing? I guess we'll never find out, but it's still very interesting.
I have clicked on a grand total of 21 ads
Interesting notes about this interesting note:
- All the clicks have been since the 1st of April, 2018.
- All the clicks have been on "Sponsored" posts.
I would like to take a moment to congratulate Facebook on finally getting me to interact with ads. This also showcases the effectiveness of native ads. I'll leave the moral implications for you to think about yourself, but there's no question about just how effective the use of native advertising has been.
Facebook can tell what life stage I am in
I am now categorized as being in the life stage of "Late High School" based on my peer group. Completely accurate, not that it's surprising. I'm more impressed by how accurate the description is rather than the fact that they have this data.
The majority of my searches have been for "AIESEC in Estonia"
This isn't that surprising as I often check the insights tab of AIESEC in Estonia and I, for some reason, can't get into the habit of just clicking the link on the right of my screen when on Facebook.
This also shows just how big of a role AIESEC is playing in my life at the moment and it will be interesting to see what it will be replaced by when my time comes to leave the organization in the future.
I have been to Facebook once with an IPV6 address
I have no idea as to how or why I have done this, but apparently, I have. Nothing too interesting about this, but it's just a fun fact.
Last - Where did I get the data?
This is all very interesting, but where the hell did I get all of this data to look through? Facebook actually has all your data available for download from your settings page.
Follow the instructions in this article and you can download all your data as well. They have it available in HTML and JSON formats.
Next steps
I'm still considering if I want some data deleted since my digital footprint is already massive enough as it is. And to be honest, steemit is not exactly helping my digital footprint along since my posts will be here as long as the blockchain is here.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this small peek into my personal life and the data that comes with it. I suggest you go through your data as well. I think you will find very interesting things which you might have never even thought of before.
I'll see you next time, hopefully soon. If you want to see my new content straight when it hits the interwebs, you should follow me.
This Is cool😎 I would considere doing a check on my data there. Steemit has really succeeded in keeping me off of Facebook.
Facebook, like all social media, is a great tool if used correctly. Where most people (and myself as well, to an extent) go wrong is using it as an entertainment platform more than a tool to connect.