Example – finding teen market segments using k-means clustering

Interacting with friends on a social networking service (SNS), such as Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram has become a rite of passage for teenagers around the world. Having a relatively large amount of disposable income, these adolescents are a coveted demographic for businesses hoping to sell snacks, beverages, electronics, and hygiene products.

The many millions of teenage consumers using such sites have attracted the attention of marketers struggling to find an edge in an increasingly competitive market. One way to gain this edge is to identify segments of teenagers who share similar tastes, so that clients can avoid targeting advertisements to teens with no interest in the product being sold. For instance, sporting apparel is likely to be a difficult sell to teens with no interest in sports.

Given the text of teenagers' SNS pages, we can identify groups that share common interests such as sports, religion, or music...