
Researchers Learned to Use Facebook ‘Likes’ to Sway Your Thinking - nreece
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/20/technology/facebook-cambridge-behavior-model.html
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oblib
I've been running the "Data Selfie" plug-in on Firefox for a bit over a week
now. It's pretty interesting. Right now it says:

"You're a laid back, liberal female who doesn't eat out frequently and doesn't
prefer style when buying clothes and is less satisfied in life than most".

It also says:

Not likely to like outdoor activities Not likely to consider starting a
business in next few years

I am a male who has been self employed most of my life, and a moderator on one
of the busiest "Backpacking Forums" here in the US. So it's got that wrong,
but it's true I have very little interest in "clothes style" and don't eat out
much.

The "female" part is especially interesting because I'm very much a straight
male, but I was a single parent with a 1 year daughter 30 years ago and I did
make a very conscious effort to be a "mom" to her. That required I learn some
very feminine traits like "kissing boo boos" and nurturing with hugs and
kisses and lullabies. I learned how to do these things by closely observing
real moms, and asking them for help, or getting my ass chewed by them when I
was "doing it wrong".

At the time friends and family were fairly astounded the first few times they
saw me go instantly into "Mom" mode when my daughter required my attention.

And, I haven't posted anything, or made any comments about either food or
clothes. I can only assume it's my lack of doing that which prompts the
conclusions regarding it but I was honestly unaware that others must do that
enough to make my not doing it somewhat remarkable.

So, in that very short time period (9 hours on FB) the plugin has made some
pretty insightful conclusions and missed the mark on some as well. For
example, I've been a hiker almost since I could walk and almost all of my
hiking over the past 25 years has been off trail "bushwhacking" into
Wilderness areas and most of that has been solo. But, I rarely ever mention my
hikes or my work on FB, so again, it would seem to be the lack of those that
prompts the algorithm's conclusions.

([https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/dataselfie/](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/dataselfie/))

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weego
I mean, the article covers the research and all so maybe I'm just out of my
depth... but I can't help feeling like there's a fair bit of tech astrology
going on here.

~~~
kdelok
I went to uni with the guy who _didn 't_ share his stuff with Cambridge
Analytica (Kosinski). He presented the likes -> OCEAN analysis and it was
pretty compelling (and frightening) stuff.

In particular, with enough likes, it could deduce things such as gender, race
and sexual orientation. Obviously in the wrong contexts, this information is
extremely sensitive.

~~~
EB-Barrington
I remember posting a random paragraph of text I had previously created into an
"analyser" on the Cambridge Analytica website - as an alternative to giving
Cambridge Analytica access to my FB profile.

It then accurately deduced my gender, race, sexual orientation, age group, and
other key data - all from a single paragraph.

No "likes" required anymore.

~~~
laretluval
Would it have been inaccurate for you if it was just guessing based on base
rates?

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thomasahle
The like to Ocean numbers in the article are quite interesting, even if a bit
predictable.

One thing that surprised me though was that neuroticism was least correlated
with all things sports?

    
    
        LEAST NEUROTIC
        “SportsCenter” TV show
        ESPN TV network
        Derrick Rose athlete
        Miami Heat sports team
        Football sport
    

This seems to suggest that either neurotic people are somehow uninteresting in
sports, or that sports are really good helping you not be neurotic. Maybe the
later is predictable as well, but that nothing else is as anti-correlated with
neuroticism is still surprising to me.

~~~
dfxm12
When was the data gathered (I know the article says they were published in
2015, but that's different)?

I could think of a time, around 2012, specifically before Rose injured his
knee, when Miami Heat and Derrick Rose fans were not very neurotic.

I don't think "sports are really good helping you not be neurotic", but I can
see how rooting for a good team might be.

~~~
majormajor
I wonder if it would be the reverse.

Bandwagonning the current best team could be correlated with being non-
neurotic. You don't have your personal identity tied up in it, you just like
seeing great players do great things. There _is_ something crazy about
investigating significant amounts of emotion and energy into rooting for a
team with very poor odds of winning... (says me, who's as guilty as anyone).

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jrimbault
For curiosity's sake I'd like to see what such models could deduce about me
personnally. Google ads and Amazon don't seem particularly apt to deduce who I
am.

Last time I checked what ads google was serving me, it was all woman lingerie
and services to Londoner expat living in Paris. I'm a young french man living
in Paris, without any _particular_ interests in lingerie, I've been to London
once 10 years ago. I'd qualify myself as fitting in the norm of young CS
students.

~~~
the-dude
> without any particular interests in lingerie

That is what you think.

