A “like” here an there for your favorite movie or a local restaurant you enjoy visiting might not seem like much information go on, but according to a new study, Facebook “likes” can tell just about all there is to know about your personality.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge and Stanford University conducted a study of thousands of Facebook profiles, collecting data on things that people liked such as movies, television shows, music and more. The goal behind the study was to determine the effectiveness of a computer program in predicting five measurements of personality:

• Openness – “The dimension of personality that distinguishes imaginative, creative people from down-to-earth, conventional people”
• Conscientiousness – “The extent to which people prefer an organised, or a flexible, approach in life”
• Extraversion – “The pronounced engagement with the external world, versus being comfortable with your own company”
• Agreeableness – “The way people express their opinions and manage relationships”
• Neuroticism – “The way people cope with, and respond to, life’s demands”

Computer predictions “better than most friends”

The researchers surveyed a total of 86,220 different volunteers, each of which then took a 100-question personality test. The volunteers’ Facebook likes were used to create a model of their personalities, which was then compared to the results of their tests along with questionnaires answered by some of the volunteers’ friends and family. The results were surprising.

“We know people are pretty good at predicting people’s personality traits, because it’s such an important thing in all of our interactions,” said Wu Youyou, one of the researchers behind the study. “But we were surprised by how computers were able to do better than most friends by using just a single kind of digital data such as Facebook Likes.”

According to the study, which is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the computer model based on Facebook likes was more accurate in predicting the subjects’ personalities than their friends and family.

“We were surprised to find that actually computers are beating us at something we excel at,” said Michal Kosinski, one  of the other lead researchers.

Curious to see what your Facebook likes say about you? You can use the study’s free Facebook personality tool here.

image courtesy of Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg