CSE Colloquium: Measuring Well-Being Using Social Media Language

Abstract: Social media such as Twitter and Facebook provide a rich, if imperfect, portal into people’s lives.  We analyze tens of millions of Facebook posts and billions of tweets to study variation in language use with age, gender, personality, and mental and physical well-being. Word clouds provide insights into depression, empathy and stress, correlations between language use and county-level health data suggest connections between health and happiness, including potential psychological causes of heart disease. Similar analyses are useful in many fields.

Bio: Dr. Lyle Ungar is a Professor of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He received a B.S. from Stanford University and a Ph.D. from MIT. Dr. Ungar directed Penn’s Executive Masters of Technology Management (EMTM) Program for a decade, and served as Associate Director of the Penn Center for BioInformatics (PCBI). He has published over 250 articles and holds ten patents. His current research focuses on statistical natural language processing, deep learning, and the use of social media to understand the psychology of individuals and communities. Lyle has consulted for companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies on strategic use of information technology in areas including data mining, business process automation, online auction design, and chatbots.

Zoom details: https://psu.zoom.us/j/94431829695 Please email Jack Sampson at jms1257@psu.edu for the Zoom password.