On Monday, Cambridge University released a study looking how much of what people “like” on Facebook can reveal about who they are. In the study people who openly declare their affinity for curly fries on Facebook tend to have higher IQs. Researchers found that they could, correctly guess your sexual orientation by analyzing the kinds of TV shows and movies.The study even included “like” predictors that could tell whether users’ parents had separated when they were young vs. whether they had not as well as your race, political background and religion.
The study said the data could be beneficial to help improve marketing recommendations or in psychology research. But the study also raised concerns that it’s too easy to gather telling data about users without obtaining their permission. On Facebook, users do have the option to guard their “likes” in other information that could tell a lot about them.
