Database Reference
In-Depth Information
For example, in 2012 Facebook users posted 700 status updates per second
worldwide, which can be leveraged to deduce latent interests or political views of
users and show relevant ads. For instance, an update in which a woman changes
her relationship status from “single” to “engaged” would trigger ads on bridal
dresses, wedding planning, or name-changing services.
Facebook can also construct social graphs to analyze which users are connected
to each other as an interconnected network. In March 2013, Facebook released a
new feature called “Graph Search,” enabling users and developers to search social
graphs for people with similar interests, hobbies, and shared locations.
Another example comes from genomics. Genetic sequencing and human genome
mapping provide a detailed understanding of genetic makeup and lineage. The
health care industry is looking toward these advances to help predict which
illnesses a person is likely to get in his lifetime and take steps to avoid these
maladies or reduce their impact through the use of personalized medicine and
treatment. Such tests also highlight typical responses to different medications and
pharmaceutical drugs, heightening risk awareness of specific drug treatments.
While data has grown, the cost to perform this work has fallen dramatically. The
cost to sequence one human genome has fallen from $100 million in 2001 to
$10,000 in 2011, and the cost continues to drop. Now, websites such as 23andme
(
Figure 1.2
)
offer genotyping for less than $100. Although genotyping analyzes
only a fraction of a genome and does not provide as much granularity as genetic
sequencing, it does point to the fact that data and complex analysis is becoming
more prevalent and less expensive to deploy.
