Red Flags in Social Media: How Developers Can Benefit From Online Behavior Analysis

While developers usually focus on more technical aspects when it comes to their work, the social media behavior of people you cooperate with (and even your own!) can impact your business in some not-that-obvious but very serious ways.

In this post, we will tell you how social media behavior analysis tools such as Socialprofiler can help you stay on top of any red flags in social media and avoid potential pitfalls that can damage your professional reputation for good.

Why Developers Should Care About Social Media Red Flags

Whether we like it or not, people often judge others based on their social media presence. It’s an uncomfortable fact that we spend too much time in those infinite scrolls, liking, following, connecting, retweeting, and posting our content.

However, that behavior not only feeds the algorithms and allows social media companies to sell our data to advertisers, but it also builds a narrative about our personalities. While it may be harsh, such stories can uncover significant red flags on social media that can help pinpoint problems in real life.

While some extreme examples, such as using discriminatory language, having too extreme political opinions, and promoting and taking part in illegal activities, are clear red flags, most people will avoid partaking in those anyway.

However, a deep social media search can uncover a person’s preferences and interests, enabling you to determine if they are the right fit for you or your organization.

Here are some use cases where Socialprofiler can help developers make better decisions:

Checking Potential Partners and Influencers

If you are building an app in your free time, you are likely to realize that you can only do so much on your own.

When the time comes, and if you don’t have anyone who you personally know to jump in, platforms such as GitHub and Stack Overflow are usually the first thing we all look into—we can see developers’ projects, check their reputation within the community, which will tell us all we need to know about their technical fit.

As for the promotional side, you will likely look into influencers who can promote the app to their audience, thereby increasing reach while you focus on organic visits and SEO.

However, checking the social media presence of potential collaborators with Socialprofiler will potentially uncover information that manual checks would miss.

The Gearhead Cook

Let’s take Gordon Ramsey’s social media presence as an example:

• Obviously, Gordon is interested in all kinds of food-related topics
• But, his social media presence also highlights interests in the automotive industry and auto sports
• He also seems to interact with tactical gear and similar gun-related content
• Gordon seems interested in extreme sports, adventure, outdoor activities, the military, and veteran support

While Gordon Ramsey is extremely popular, and we are all familiar with his colorful personality, imagine encountering a person with those views and checking their social media presence further.

If you were building an app that leans towards ecology, sustainability, and social justice, collaborating with an influencer who is into guns, auto sports, and extreme outdoor activities might not be the optimal choice, given their views. No matter how many followers they have, their audience is probably not the right fit for you, even if they want to promote your product.

The same goes for potential technical partners. 

We are not talking about canceling the person for their political and personal views, no. That type of information is only a good starting point for a conversation, as you can carefully tailor your interview questions to their visions for the app rather than just their technical capabilities.

After all, you are about to become partners, and they will have their say in some of the most critical business matters. It makes sense for their public persona to match the brand values.

Checking Potential Investors

While finding an investor is challenging enough, sometimes pursuing the money alone isn’t the right approach.

If we take our ecology and environment-focused app, it is likely to attract a progressive-leaning audience. Raising an investment from someone like Donald Trump is certainly not the best move, even if they wanted to give you money. In fact, their social media activities and presence can only make things problematic for your project in the future.

However, the same Trump-like type of person who is more conservative and entrepreneurial is a much better fit to become an angel investor in startups that focus on cryptocurrencies, “alpha” coaching apps, alternative media, and similar ventures.

Therefore, there’s no right or wrong; people are just people, but it’s your job to attract the correct type of personality to your project. 

Not only will it make a better brand find, but attracting an investor who cares about your product will also make them more interested, which can help you secure more funds.

Double-checking Your Own Digital Footprint

For red flags in social media check yourself before you wreck your stack…

Outdated hip-hop jokes aside, things usually go the other way around—your potential partners, investors, and competitors will check your social media presence, whether you like it or not.

While you can manually check things, it’s a good idea to use an algorithmic tool like Socialprofiler for social media screenings and reverse social media lookups. That will allow you to make a bias-free estimate of your own social media activities.

Socialprofiler will show how other people may perceive you, not only based on your posts, but also on the entire activity. That might uncover some angles you didn’t know about your social media presence that don’t paint the right picture about you, allowing you to take action and make corrections.

Socialprofiler: A Valuable Tool That Will Aid In Avoiding Social Media Red Flags

Socialprofiler will help you analyze the social media presence of potential partners, investors, or influencers you want to collaborate with. It can even help you take a different look at your own digital presence, ensuring there are no surprises in your public image.

But, Socialprofiler is not FCRA-compliant, and you shouldn’t use it for hiring (or other sensitive use cases such as credit background checks, housing, and similar). You should also avoid using it for discriminatory purposes, but rather to gain insights into influencers and potential networking and investment opportunities.

Overall, Socialprofiler is an outstanding app for evaluating social media profiles and ensuring you don’t overlook common red flags on social media.

Try Socialprofiler today, explore the tool, check some profiles yourself, and see for yourself how it can help you with social media screenings.