Editorials & Other Articles

Electric Monk

(13,869 posts) Tue Mar 12, 2013, 06:48 PM Mar 2013

What Are Your Facebook Likes Revealing About You? (Hint: It’s a lot)

The study comes to us from the Psychometrics Centre at the University of Cambridge
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/03/06/1218772110.full.pdf+html
and was just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal (PNAS). Researchers looked at over 58,000 Facebook users and found that they were able to accurately predict “a range of highly sensitive personal attributes,” including things like ethnicity, religious affiliations, sexual orientation, intelligence, drug use, political views, and more, by simply analyzing the subject’s likes on the site.

For instance, using Facebook likes, the researchers were able to correctly categorize white vs. black 95% of the time and male vs. female 93% of the time. They were correct in their predictions about a users’ sexual orientation over 80% of the time, and could distinguish between Christianity vs. Islam in 82% of the circumstances.

(snip)

The researchers outline their nightmare scenario as such:

On the other hand, the predictability of individual attributes from digital records of behavior may have considerable negative implications, because it can easily be applied to large numbers of people without obtaining their individual consent and without them noticing. Commercial companies, governmental institutions, or even one’s Facebook friends could use software to infer attributes such as intelligence, sexual orientation, or political views that an individual may not have intended to share.

much more: http://www.webpronews.com/what-are-your-facebook-likes-revealing-about-you-hint-its-a-lot-2013-03

and
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57573742-93/your-facebook-likes-may-reveal-more-than-you-probably-like/

and
http://gizmodo.com/5990066/study-you-facebook-likes-alone-reveal-gender-ethnicity-religion-and-more

and

http://www.thespec.com/news/business/article/901376--facebook-likes-an-accurate-way-of-assessing-iq

“The best predictors of high intelligence include ‘thunderstorms,’ ‘The Colbert Report,’ ‘science’ and ‘curly fries,’” the study said.

“To be honest, we were mind blown when we saw the results for the first time,” Kosinski told the Star.

“We could predict so many things with so much accuracy. To be able to predict someone’s IQ or personality or whether their parents were divorced was very surprising, even to me, and I predict personality traits all the time.”

(cross-posted in GD http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022496310 )

6 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

What Are Your Facebook Likes Revealing About You? (Hint: It’s a lot) (Original Post) Electric Monk Mar 2013 OP

I can do better than that on sexual orientation, Judeo-Christian versus Islamic background, and Jackpine Radical Mar 2013 #1

you don't even have to press the button for them to collect the info alc Mar 2013 #2

Could you shed light on why FB seems to have this power? BadgerKid Apr 2013 #3

Something to think about...indeed...thanks for posting..........k and r...nt Stuart G Apr 2013 #4

So, anybody on facebook want to try it out? bananas Apr 2013 #5

pretty much the same as likes here on DU shanti Apr 2013 #6

Jackpine Radical

(45,274 posts)

1. I can do better than that on sexual orientation, Judeo-Christian versus Islamic background, and

Reply to Electric Monk (Original post)

Tue Mar 12, 2013, 06:55 PM

Mar 2013

handedness just using my Ouija board.

I Just call everyone Judeo-Christian instead of Islamic & I'm right about 93% of the time. I call everyone straight, and I'm right 90% of the time (or whatever; my point isn't to argue the exact percentages). I call everyone right-handed & I'm right 85% of the time.

Simple.

alc

(1,151 posts)

2. you don't even have to press the button for them to collect the info

Reply to Electric Monk (Original post)

Tue Mar 12, 2013, 07:19 PM

Mar 2013

Any time you visit a page with a like button they know just by the fact that the page uses facebook.com to load the button. If you stay logged into facebook ("keep me logged" in when you login) they know it's you on every page with a like button. Even if you don't stay logged in they have the analytics abilities to know it's you (though they could/should get in trouble if they do that).

Without me ever clicking a like button they could have a VERY good idea of most of my life just by the sites they know I visit most whether or not I explicitly tell them I like the site or something on the site. The same goes for most people.

There are easy ways for web developers to get around this, but it violates the facebook TOC. At least it did 2 years ago when I removed like buttons from all of my sites (as did a lot of others). They sued a couple of sites that did get around it. At that time some users were upset at the missing like buttons. Hopefully people will understand the reasons more now.