Researchers at the University of Cambridge and Stanford University have found that Facebook (with enough “Like” data on the site from participants) is better at predicting a person’s personality than most of their close friends. 86,220 people on Facebook were asked to complete a 100-question personality survey that determined where they stand on the so-called Big Five personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. The data was then analyzed and compared to an analysis of the Facebook Likes of each survey participant. On average, people on Facebook had 227 Likes, and this was enough information for the computer to be a better predictor of personality than an average human judge (in other words, a friend), and almost as good as a spouse. The more Likes, the better the computer was at predicting personality.
While not perfect, researchers are hoping this kind of computer modeling could be used to help with career planning, linking people and their personality traits to the right industries and the jobs and helping companies with recruitment.