The internet and social media create a mountain of random, unstructured, and at times ephemeral data by-products, which may appear to be trash. Yet, one person’s trash is another’s treasure. From FaceBook to Netflix, people are spending more time sharing their thoughts, opinions, plans and perspectives as they socialize and conduct business online. With each of these Internet exchanges traces of information,or Data Exhaust, are left behind. When correlated or combined, these snippets can provide insight into political views, professional achievements, purchasing behaviors, and demographic information—pinpointing trend setters and leading indicators. Brilliant innovators now re-purpose this data stream, aggregating and analyzing the data to provide new products or services.
Social and News Media Enable Estimation of Epidemiological Patterns Early in the 2010 Haitian Cholera Outbreak