Private data revealed by Facebook 'likes': Study
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In this Dec. 13, 2011 file photo, a sign with Facebook's "Like" logo is posted at Facebook headquarters near the office for the company's User Operations Safety Team in Menlo Park, Calif. A study by researchers at Cambridge, published on Monday, March 11, 2013 in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, has found that clicking the social network's friendly blue "like" buttons may reveal more about people than they realise. -- FILE PHOTO: AP
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Those Facebook 'likes' can reveal a lot more than you think.
Research released on Monday shows patterns from these Facebook preferences can provide surprisingly accurate estimates of the user's race, age, IQ, sexuality and other personal information.
The researchers developed an algorithm which uses Facebook likes - which are publicly available unless a user chooses stronger privacy settings - to create personality profiles, potentially revealing a user's intimate details.
These mathematical models proved 88 per cent accurate for differentiating males from females and 95 per cent accurate distinguishing African-Americans from whites.
