Using a dataset of more than 58,000 Facebook users in the USA collected between 2007 and 2012, researchers at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom were able to accurately predict certain qualities and traits, such as race, age, IQ, sexuality, personality, substance use and political views using Facebook Likes alone.
The Likes include photos, friends’ status updates, Facebook pages of products, sports, musicians, books, restaurants or popular websites.
The study notes that Likes that are the “best predictors of high intelligence include ‘Thunderstorms,’ The Colbert Report, ‘Science” and ‘Curly Fries.’ Low intelligence was indicated by liking (Facebook pages for) ‘Sephora,’ ‘I Love Being A Mom,’ ‘Harley Davidson’ and ‘Lady Antebellum.’ ” Researchers gave no further explanation of these findings.
