You Are Known in Great Detail by Just a Few Facebook Likes; More than your most Intimate Relationships
Does Facebook know you better than your closest relationships? This may sound crazy but according to Cambridge University and a study they conducted, this is very true! As we uncover the reality of this study, we can see how many things in the earth are leaning towards the Beast Economy written of in the Bible in Revelation 13. We must be ready for this truth that is coming in the last days of the earth.
For this research, Cambridge had over 86,000 volunteers on Facebook complete a questionnaire with 100 questions, and they allowed their likes to be accessed. This is building on a previous study done by Cambridge that psychological and demographic characteristics can be predicted through Facebook likes. The results gave personality scores named the “big five” psychological traits: 1. Openness, 2. Conscientiousness, 3. Extraversion, 4. Agreeableness, and 5. Neuroticism.
As reported by The Guardian, Analysis of the data showed which likes equated with higher levels of particular traits. For instance, liking “Salvador Dali” or “meditation” revealed a high degree of “openness.”
The results of the computerized character assessment were compared with judgments of friends and family members made using a shorter version of the personality test.
Given enough likes to analyze, the software matched people’s self-reported personality traits more closely than siblings, parents or partners.
Potentially the technology could influence who we employ, elect, or even marry, say the scientists.
Co-author Dr. David Stillwell, also from Cambridge University, said: “The ability to judge personality is an essential component of social living – from day-to-day decisions to long-term plans such as whom to marry, trust, hire or elect as president.
“The results of such data analysis can be very useful in aiding people when making decisions.”
Ph.D. student Ms. Youyou added: “Recruiters could better match candidates with jobs based on their personality; products and services could adjust their behavior to best match their users’ characters and changing moods.
“People may choose to augment their own intuitions and judgments with this kind of data analysis when making important life decisions such as choosing activities, career paths, or even romantic partners. Such data-driven decisions may well improve people’s lives.”
But the researchers share the concerns of those who fear a dystopian future in which our traits and habits become an “open book” for computers to read.
Dr. Michal Kosinski, another member of the team from Stanford University in the US, said: “We hope that consumers, technology developers, and policy-makers will tackle those challenges by supporting privacy-protecting laws and technologies, and giving the users full control over their digital footprints.”
We have digital footprints! Many of us look at social media and like the fact that these platforms are free, but, nothing is truly free. If we use a free product like Facebook, then we are the product. Many of us have bought into sharing our lives. That is why when we need to pay for something, like Facebook, it will be better because we can have control over our digital footprint.
We are continuing with the Cambridge study and find out that Facebook knows who you are by what you liked and according to the results it knows you better than your coworkers, friend, family, and spouse! The researchers used their software to analyze the likes, which is clicking like on a post on Facebook, done by those that participated in this study. Based on ten likes Artificial Intelligence, AI, the software was able to predict personality better than a coworker. Based on 70 likes AI was able to obtain a truer picture of someone’s character than a friend or room-mate. Based on 150 likes AI outperformed a parent, sibling, or partner. Lastly based on 300 likes AI was able to judge character better than a spouse. If this much is known about us based on our likes, imagine what they know about those of us who share every moment of our lives! At what point is it sharing too much? Facebook is a great platform to reach people, but it doesn’t have to be used to share every detail of our lives.
When we look back at times that are not too far away, we would find out each other’s likes and dislikes by spending time together and talking to each other! Now more is known by AI about us than our loved ones. What do you think your spouse or children think about you? If you are not already doing it, maybe you can ask your family what they are thinking and what they like and don’t like. We can choose to learn more about them than any computer! What do you think about today’s topic? We want to hear from you. Write to us at [email protected]. Greg and John shared in this segment.
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