Social Hacking

The last entry is directly linked to this one. As I mentioned in the last post, and I have to mention it again, don't take any of this as facts. I don't like analyzing conversation since it's so easy to make mistakes and completely misunderstand the other part. However, I will write about some general methods and signs.

I am going to call the victim of the analysis the target and it is going to be a "it" (confusing?). So, the first thing to look at is what the conversation is about. Is the target only talking about itself, does it try to talk about you, or are the subjects just general. If the target only talks about itself it can be a sign that it wants more of your attention, even might want your help. If the target tries to talk about you, it probably is interested in you or cares about you. (I am not going to say anything about the last case).

Still looking at these things they could mean something completely different (no, I still don't like writing about this..).

As in all analysis, look for patterns , things that are repeated. It's impossible to say anything about something a person said once. Well, might not impossible, but just plain wrong.

Other things to look at the exclamation marks, periods, and smilies.

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I wrote the first part of the post a while back. Have not gotten around to finish it and I don't think I will finish it right now. I just feel that the subject is basic paralyzing me (yea, I am weird..). So this will be it for now, I will change to a different subject in my next post. Sorry for letting you guys wait.

Sorry for the scatters updates. I've be a little busy the last weeks with school work and then I also finished the Stockholm Marathon. Yes, I just had to mention that.

Back on topic; analyzing conversations. This is a subject that I think is very interesting and it's surprisingly hard. What I mean with analyzing conversations is the ability to read between the lines. What is a person trying to say even though he or she did not write or say it. I am going to focus on chat (written conversations) this time. When it comes to irl (geek abbreviation for in real life) conversations there is a lot more that you can pay attention to like body language etc. However, I'll leave that for now.

I'll start of with and example that I saw a while ago. It was a discussion between dating advisors. I was not part of this discussion. The discussion was about how a thank you SMS should be analyzed. They had three examples messages, all of them said "Thank you for last night". However, the first one ended with a period, the second one with nothing and the third one with three periods. The "experts" conclusion was that the first one (that ended with one period) was bad. It meant that the person sending the message just sent it because he felt obligated to do so. The second message (nothing after night) meant that the sender did enjoy last night, but not to much. The last message (ending with "..."

) was the best response. Because it meant that the sender really enjoyed last night and that he or she wanted to do something similar again.

You have probably already seen the problem with analyzing conversations just for this example. Everyone does not act the same way and everyone does their own interpretation. It is really easy to over analyze conversations and come to conclusions that the other part did not mean at all. I have been trying to stop analyzing things that people write and just concentrate on what they literary write but it is really hard. We even read between the lines subconsciously.

This can also be important to think about if you are sending a message to someone. Try to read between the lines of your own message and try to put yourself in the readers shoes and think about how they will interpret the message. However, don't do it to much either. I really think the world would be better if people did not analyze messages at all. However, we are humans with a subconscious.

As you might have analyzed from what I have written you might have come to the conclusion that I don't really like the subject. If you did come to that conclusion you are absolutely right. Yes, I do think it's interesting, but I don't like that it is done.

If you have read my previous post (or chatted with me) you have probably realized that I never use smilies (the sideways turned faces with different expressions). The reason for this is that everyone interpret these smilies differently. Take this smiley has an example: : P. How do you interpret that smiley? When I used it, I though of it as a joking face. When I ended a sentence with a : P I was not being all that serious, pointing something obvious, or just being sarcastic. However, I have asked how others interpret the : P smiley and I have gotten too many different answers.

So, I think that was enough of an intro to the subject. Next time I will tell you how I do interpret different conversations. However, I think it is important to read this first and understand that everyone thinks differently. What I say next time is just how I think, not general guide lines.

I lost the key to my apartment the other day. Well lost might be the wrong word, I misplaced it somewhere in my apartment. So I went around looking for them for maybe a quarter of an hour. My apartment is not that big, there are not that many places to look. However, I could not find the key. Then I remembered the art backtracing. If there is a really term for what I did, I don't think it's backtracing. But that is what I am going to call it. Just like the GDB command. If you know what GDB is I award you with 3 geek points (congrats!).

Backtracing is to look or think at the events leading up to where you are right now. I knew that the key had to be inside the apartment, since I was able to get in. After entering I remember turning my mp3 player off, and hanging of my jacket. Then I took my shoes of and placed them next to the door. I went into my living room (which also serves as bedroom, dining room, etc.) and threw my backpack om my bed. Then I sat down in front of my computer. At this point I knew that my key was placed somewhere along that path (my life is exciting, isn't it?).

So I tried to think a little harder of what I did and I remember placing my mp3 player on the drawer in the hall. So I went there to look. Next to my mp3 was my wallet. I figured that my key should not be far way now, so I started to look around the drawer. I found nothing and gave up my search (there is a point, wait for it.). The next morning I had to find my key and after short consideration I decided that my key had to be close to the drawer. So I going threw the compartments and there the key was, in the bottom of my drawer with socks.

This is a good example of how backtracing can be used and how to perform a backtrace. Backtracing is also a great way to exercise your memory. Take a couple of minutes to think about what you did before you sat down in front of your computer. How did you find my blog? (no seriously, I want to know)

If you get really good at backtracing your memory will automagically improve. If you have not read my blog before I recommend that you read the post about creating paths (post 3). This is exactly what backtracing is about. Remembering one bit in the past will open new paths into your memory so that you remember more. When you are for example trying to find your keys, think of what else you did while losing them and your brain will handle the rest.

  Quarnevalen's week is now over, and it was a really nice ride. One of the most fun things that I have done during my time at KTH (even though I did screw up in the end). What I would like to recommend to you people out there is to try things, don't be afraid of failure. Anyway, I am sorry for not updating in such a long, I will get right back to the subject.

  So today I had another seminar and a presentation in one of my courses. We had some really interesting discussions and I saw some interesting things. I am going to talk about body language in this post. Not the kind of body language that people consciously use. I am going to talk about the body language that we do subconsciously (pling post 10).

  A quick example from the seminar today was one person who answered maybe 5 questions in a row. I could tell if he was confident about his answer just by studying how he standing when answering. The first question he got he talked a while before he got to the answer. He sounded unsure in the beginning but then, towards the end of his reasoning, he was confident that he had given a good answer. Just as he made the transition between the first unsure part and the second "sure" part he shifted his weight and took another pose. I watched this during his other answers and it was surprisingly accurate. Giving his last answer he was in the "unsure" pose and the seminar leader just shot down his argument.

  As we stand (talking about us "humans"), we shift our weight to one leg at the time, letting the other leg rest. This is something we do subconsciously. What I have notice is that we also shift our weight when hesitate, or somehow get interrupted in our line of thought. When we have confidence in what we are saying we tend to stand firmly in one place.

  Another thing to look at is how someone eyes move. This is different from the weight shifting since is tends to differ much more from person to person. Try to define a pattern of movement for a person. When that person diverges from that pattern he or she is probably not that sure anymore.

  This can be done with any other body part besides the eyes. Look for something that breaks the pattern.

  So why am I telling you this? Well (you should have reached this conclusion) to win a discussion, you need to push for what you know and what your opponent doesn't know. If (When) you find something your opponent is unsure about, ask follow up questions.

  This can also be used in a more friendly way. Say that you are having a serious discussion with someone you know and that person repeatedly breaks his or her regular pattern of movement. This probably means that he or she is not comfortable with the subject and wants you to talk about something else. It can also be an indicator that something is troubling the person in question and he or she needs to talk about it. I'll leave that judgment up to you.

  That all I had for today. I will try to produce at least one more post this week, but I don't know if I will have the time. Thanks for reading!

I thought I was writing something this week but it's quarneval week and I got some projects to do. But I promise to get something new out as soon as I have time.

In the mean time you can study this. Would that be called social hacking?