It seems that the reach of both Facebook and Twitter are farther than I originally thought – in fact, it seems that the Bank of England might actually turn to those two social media channels in an effort to set interest rates. Basically, we have gotten whiff that the Bank of England has set up a special taskforce which will start to go through what is being shared on the Internet, as well as on social media platforms in the guise of Facebook and Twitter as it picks up clues concerning the state of Britain’s economy at any point in time.
Sky News also mentioned that this is made possible by gauging the kind of language used on social networks, which is an interesting shift towards “big data,” where companies will do their bit to collect and analyze large sets of digital data as opposed to relying on traditional database techniques in order to detect patterns as and when they happen. The Bank of England claims that such techniques will be able to assist in the implementation of new controls where the housing market is concerned, as well as set interest rates. Pretty unique method of picking up information from seemingly unlikely sources, am I correct?