What Happens to Mined Social Media Data?

Abstract

Criticisms of social media data mining depend on what happens as a result of data mining, so in this chapter, Kennedy focuses on the concrete, material consequences of organisational social media data mining. She draws on interviews with organisations which use the services of social insights companies or undertake their own social media data mining. Kennedy argues that social media data mining often confirms the value of organisational participation in social media and, as such, confirms the value of social media data mining itself. Changes seem modest and mundane and do not appear to be concerning. However, modifications to working arrangements made as a result of these internal, organisational changes have serious consequences for the working life of staff within the organisations. As in previous chapters, a desire for numbers drives these changes and their troubling consequences, and also overshadows discussion of the ethics, problems and limitations of social media data mining.