Study Finds Facebook Likes Can Reveal Personality Traits

Posted on April 22, 2013

A study conducted by researchers from the University of Cambridge has found that your Facebook Likes can reveal personal information and personality traits, including race, age, sexuality, political views and more. The researchers analyzed a dataset of over 58,000 US Facebook users.

The researchers created some statistical models able to predict personal details using Facebook Likes alone. Here are some details about the accuracy of the models:

88% accurate for determining male sexuality
95% accurate distinguishing African-American from Caucasian American
85% accurate differentiating Republican from Democrat
Christians and Muslims were correctly classified in 82% of cases
Relationship status and substance abuse was between 65 and 73% accurate
Wether a Facebook users' parents separated before the user reached the age of 21 were accurate to 60%

Michal Kosinski, Operations Director at the Cambridge Psychometrics Centre, said in a statement, "We believe that our results, while based on Facebook Likes, apply to a wider range of online behaviours. Similar predictions could be made from all manner of digital data, with this kind of secondary 'inference' made with remarkable accuracy - statistically predicting sensitive information people might not want revealed. Given the variety of digital traces people leave behind, it's becoming increasingly difficult for individuals to control."

Unfortunately, sharing online will continue to become increasingly revealing. You could always "Like" some stuff you hate just to throw the bots off track, but you might confuse your Facebook friends.