Name: Your social media "likes" expose more than you think
Uploaded: 2014-04-03T14:57:05Z
Duration: 9 min 42 s
Description: Do you like curly fries? Have you Liked them on Facebook? Watch this talk to find out the surprising things Facebook (and others) can guess about you from your random Likes and Shares. Computer scientist Jennifer Golbeck explains how this came about, how some applications of the technology are not so cute -- and why she thinks we should return the control of information to its rightful owners.

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Jennifer Golbeck: Your social media "likes" expose more than you think

Your social media "likes" expose more than you think

Do you like curly fries? Have you Liked them on Facebook? Watch this talk to find out the surprising things Facebook (and others) can guess about you from your random Likes and Shares. Computer scientist Jennifer Golbeck explains how this came about, how some applications of the technology are not so cute -- and why she thinks we should return the control of information to its rightful owners.

Social media platforms can use seemingly random online actions to predict deeply personal traits with surprising accuracy. For example, liking a page about curly fries on Facebook was one of the strongest indicators of high intelligence in a research study, not because of the content, but because of hidden social patterns. These predictions rely on analyzing vast amounts of behavioral and preference data from millions of people. Most users have little understanding or control over how their data is used to make these judgments.