Facebook knows you better than your friends, finds study

Facebook knows you better than your friends, suggests a rather stark study from the University of Cambridge and Stanford University.

The study, from two of the world’s top academic institutions, found that computers can read individuals as well as partners and better than friends, simply through sifting through their Facebook likes.

A new algorithm, developed as part of the study, can scan user’s social activity and ascertain personality traits as accurately as a loving, human spouse.

The sophisticated software could predict a user’s personality better than a work colleague with just 10 likes, better than a friend with 70, a family member at 150, and a spouse with 300 likes. Scary.

The study examined the ‘Big Five’ personality traits; openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticisms across a sample of 86,220 volunteers.

A lack human bias and irrationality is one reason that allowed computers to win the study.

The study could provide an interesting read for marketers, with one researcher noting that brands could adjust their products and services to “match their users’ characteristics”. Big data is an interesting topic, that is reshaping marketing in many ways, yet it remains to be seen how data can be harnessed in a sensitive way that can respect privacy, yet fulfill business objectives as the world continues to move online.