Suffolk Reporter

Researchers at Stony Brook University have developed the largest database for studying career identity using social media biographies. The team, comprising PhD students Xingzhi Guo and Dakota Handzlik, Distinguished Teaching Professor Steven Skiena from the Department of Computer Science, and Jason J. Jones from the Department of Sociology, analyzed self-authored biographies of over 51 million English-language Twitter users over six years.

Their paper, "The Evolution of Occupational Identity in Twitter Biographies," was accepted by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) in 2024. They discovered 435 million biography changes between February 2015 and July 2021, many reflecting revisions in job titles. This data was combined with information about job prevalence and prestige to create a comprehensive dataset.

Professor Skiena stated, “Work is an essential part of our daily lives. It significantly contributes to our sense of identity and how we behave around others.” He noted that different professions can influence personality traits; for example, a business owner may have a different personality than a school teacher.

The research offers potential applications such as helping organizations enhance job prestige through social approval mechanisms without resorting to scraping private resumes from social networks. This approach could address ethical and privacy concerns associated with data collection.

For more details on this study, visit the AI Innovation Institute website for Ankita Nagpal's full story.