Facebook Knows If You're Gay, Use Drugs, Or Are a Republican

Hugh Pickens writes writes "Not that there's anything wrong with that — as the Guardian reports that Facebook users are unwittingly revealing their sexual orientation, drug use and political beliefs– using only public 'like' updates. A study of 58,000 Facebook users in the US found that sensitive personal characteristics about people can be accurately inferred from information in the public domain. Researchers were able to accurately infer a Facebook user's race, IQ, sexuality, substance use, personality or political views (PDF) using only a record of the subjects and items they had 'liked' on Facebook – even if users had chosen not to reveal that information. 'It is good that people's behavior is predictable because it means Facebook can suggest very good stories on your news feed,' says Michal Kosinski, 'But what is shocking is that you can use the same data to predict your political views or your sexual orientation. This is something most people don't realize you can do.' For example, researchers were able to predict whether men were homosexual with 88% accuracy by their likes of Facebook pages such as 'Human Rights Campaign' and 'Wicked the Musical' – even if those users had not explicitly shared their sexuality on the site. According to the study other personality traits linked to predictive likes include for High IQ — 'The Godfather,' 'Lord of the Rings,' 'The Daily Show'; for Low IQ — 'Harley Davidson,' 'I Love Being A Mom,' 'Tyler Perry'; and for male heterosexuality — 'Wu Tang Clan,' 'Shaq,' and 'Being Confused after Waking Up from Naps.' Facebook's default privacy settings mean that your 'likes' are public to anyone and Facebook's own algorithms already use these likes to dictate what stories end up in users' news feeds, while advertisers can access them to determine which are the most effective ads to show you as you browse."

Comments

Turns out

[WillgasM]

Turns out, I'm gay. Even Facebook knew it before I did.

Re:Turns out

[Anonymous Coward]

*phew* close call, you could have been a republican!

Re:Turns out

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm a Republican Gay Man, you insensitive clod! I oppose gay marriage only because I don't want us homosexuals to have to be as unhappy as you heterosexuals!

Re:Turns out

[Black Parrot]

If he's gay he could well be a closet Republican that's in denial.

Maybe he can be cured of his Republicanism!

They cure Teh Gey with the traditional "laying on of hands". (Presumably if it doesn't give you a boner, they know you're cured.)

Similarly, they cure Teh Republicanism by burying you in money. If it doesn't give you a boner, you're not a Republican anymore.

Re:But

[Anonymous Coward]

Not Intelligent, just paranoid. Kinda like posting anonymously on Slashdot.

Re:Knows and Presumes are not the same thing

[CanHasDIY]

Which is why I hit the "like" button for EVERYTHING!!!!!

FYI, I wouldn't recommend drinking from that well, considering how much I piss in it.

Re:Knows and Presumes are not the same thing

[Beardo the Bearded]

You and me both, I've convinced Google that I'm a gay male yoga instructor.

Also, I've been shaving since 2004.

Re:lotr = high iq?

[Qzukk]

The authors of the study all liked LOTR.

Re:Knows and Presumes are not the same thing

[shikaisi]

If it turns out that, on average, 95% of people who watch Top Gear are heterosexual and 95% of people who watch Glee are homosexual, if I like both it proves absolutely nothing about me.

Except that now we all know you are bisexual.

Denial?

[Comboman]

I'm also a fan of musical theatre, but somehow not gay....wonder how that works?

Denial?