June 15th, 2009
Would you 'TweetPsych' a prospective employee?
Earlier today Twitter was all abuzz about Dan Zarrella’s new Web service, TweetPsych, which provides a psychological profile of a person based on his or her tweets. It’s a pretty nifty idea and Zarrella has a bunch of background on the science around it on his blog. The server has been struggling today due to all of the buzz, so be patient. It’s fun and worth it.
In terms of uses, I’ve beeen enjoying myself. On the not-so-serious side, I used it to psychologically profile a couple of ex-boyfriends, just for kicks. After I stopped laughing, it got me to wondering how else people might use this tool other than justifying break-ups.
Could TweetPsych be used in the hiring process?
We’ve read a lot about how companies are checking Twitter feeds and FriendFeed and other feeds to determine what prospective employees are up to in their off time, or even to see if they pay enough attention to work. As much as a stretch as it might be, would you do a TweetPsych profile on someone you’re thinking of hiring? And does Zarrella have an opportunity to monetize it in this regard? I’ve seen a lot of “fun” Twitter tools and applications. This is the first one I’ve seen that people might really use seriously — whether they should or not.
As an aside, I was finally able to get my “profile.” What does this say about me? Wait, don’t answer that…
Cognitive Content
- Self reference
- Present tense
- Social processes
- Time
- Positive emotions
- Past tense
- Negative emotions
- Upward motion
- Space
- Sad
- Number
- Future tense
- Positive Feelings
- Sports
- Cognitive processes
Primordial, Conceptual and Emotional Content
- Social behavior
- Abstract thought
- Temporal References
- Constructive behaviors
- Concreteness
- Expressive Behavior
- Anxiety
Jennifer Leggio, aka "Mediaphyter," writes about the "social business" side of social media - including enterprise, security and reputation issues. See her full profile and disclosure of her industry affiliations.
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