
What Your Likes On Facebook Betray About You
• popsci.comThink of all the pages you've "liked" on Facebook. Perhaps a favorite restaurant, a museum, a sports team. Perhaps a favorite magazine. How much do you think those errant clicks -- which are linked publicly with your profile no matter how embarrassed you are to be a fan of Justin Bieber -- betray about your personal demographics and preferences?
Way more than you want them to, according to a study from the University of Cambridge's Psychometrics Centre and Microsoft Research Cambridge. In a study published online in PNAS Monday, the researchers say automatic analysis of Facebook Likes can accurately predict a user's race, age, IQ, sexuality, personality and political views. Though the Facebook app myPersonality, which study author David Stillwell has a financial stake in, the researchers gathered information from more than 58,000 Facebook users.