Facebook & Twitter: Depression Prediction Using Social Media

Many women suffer a so-called postnatal depression after the birth of a child. About 15 percent of all young mothers are affected – with varying degrees of severity and severity. American researchers have now analyzed the postings of pregnant women on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks, and can predict with a 70% hit rate when the depression will come after birth >

The researcher Eric Horvitz explained at a meeting of AAAS, the largest US scientific association, about “what are the people involved in the networks and what mood they express by how often they communicate and how many people communicate with each other through the networks.” In Chicago. Horvitz is the Director of Microsoft Research in Redmont.


Publicly accessible Twitter data from about 3000 mothers were evaluated. For the Facebook evaluations, “several dozen mothers” were ready – an exact number was not mentioned – and opened their account for the researchers’ access. Data were collected three months before and three months after birth. However, the hit rate of the depression prediction could only be checked in the case of the Facebook analyzes, since the women were able to give feedback in the study.