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It's official: Your Facebook feed knows you better than your family

The robots are taking over.

COMPUTERS CAN JUDGE your personality traits better than your friends or family, researchers have found.

Using a new algorithm, researchers have calculated the average number of Facebook ‘likes’ artificial intelligence (AI) needs to draw personality inferences about you as accurately as your partner or parents.

A new study, published in the science journal PNAS, compares the ability of computers and people to make accurate judgements about our personalities.

The results show that by mining ‘likes’, the computer model was able to predict a person’s personality more accurately than most of their friends and family. Given enough ‘likes’ to analyse, only a person’s spouse rivalled the computer for accuracy of broad psychological traits.

Science Daily quotes researchers at the University of Cambridge and Stanford University as describing the finding as an “emphatic demonstration” of the capacity of computers to discover an individual’s psychological traits through pure data analysis.

“In the future, computers could be able to infer our psychological traits and react accordingly, leading to the emergence of emotionally-intelligent and socially skilled machines,” said lead author Wu Youyou, from Cambridge’s Psychometrics Centre.

“In this context, the human-computer interactions depicted in science fiction films such as Her seem to be within our reach.”

JoBlo Movie Trailers / YouTube

The researchers say the results might raise concerns over privacy as such technology develops; and recommend policies that give users full control of their digital footprint.

In the study, a computer could more accurately predict the subject’s personality than a work colleague by analysing just ten ‘likes’; more than a friend or a roommate with 70, a family member (parent, sibling) with 150, and a spouse with 300 ‘likes’.

An average Facebook user has about 227 ‘likes’ on their profile page.

The latest results build on previous work from the University of Cambridge, published in March 2013, which showed that a variety of psychological and demographic characteristics could be predicted with startling accuracy through Facebook ‘likes’.

In the new study, researchers used a sample of 86,220 volunteers on Facebook who completed a 100-item personality questionnaire through the ‘myPersonality’ app, as well as providing access to their ‘likes’.

Users of the app were then given the option of inviting friends and family to judge their psychological traits through a shorter version of the personality test.

Researchers were able to get a sample of 17,622 participants judged by one friend or family member, and a sample of 14,410 judged by two.

More information about the study is available here.

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23 Comments
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    Mute John Killeen
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    Dec 8th 2021, 1:38 PM

    Would love to see RTE explain the salary Ray D’Arcy receives based on them figures.

    337
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    Mute Laura Ni Hearga
    Favourite Laura Ni Hearga
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    Dec 8th 2021, 1:34 PM

    How does Newstalk Breakfast see a rise in listeners with that insufferable know it all Ciara Kelly.

    240
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    Mute JedBartlett
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    Dec 8th 2021, 3:11 PM

    @Laura Ni Hearga: The same way Pat Kenny’s show sees a rise. People hate listen so they can scream at the radio.

    16
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    Mute M
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    Dec 8th 2021, 3:21 PM

    @Laura Ni Hearga: because she speaks her mind, comes without a preset agenda unlike one or 2 of her newstalk colleques (they are actually the ones showing a drop in listeners esp that leftie moncrief fella) and also the fixed narrative of rte radio 1 presenters some also on the way down.

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    Mute ChadChaderson
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    Dec 8th 2021, 4:39 PM

    @Laura Ni Hearga: yeah can’t stand her.

    13
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    Mute Gerrard
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    Dec 8th 2021, 5:08 PM

    @ChadChaderson: stopped listening to morning Newstalk because of her would do your nut in

    16
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    Mute Dan Duggan
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    Dec 8th 2021, 6:04 PM

    @M: Ciaras co-presenter is a “leftie”.

    Thats why the numbers are up?

    1
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    Mute Paul Walsh
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    Dec 8th 2021, 1:54 PM

    RTE just caters for wokesters, while they all support and applaud each other the rest of us switch off

    112
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    Mute William Tallon
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    Dec 8th 2021, 1:09 PM

    You’d want to be barking mad to listen to it though…

    122
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    Mute Brian Heffernan
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    Dec 8th 2021, 1:22 PM

    2fm…a joke of a station. I’m not saying breakfast republic was everyone’s cup of tea but imagine having 180,000 listeners, cancelling the show, sacking Keith Walsh and replacing them with that muck.

    161
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    Mute Ed
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    Dec 8th 2021, 1:26 PM

    @Brian Heffernan: 2FM should be sold off. It adds nothing to the FM band. RTE Gold would be better on FM instead of it. Not all parts of the country get Classic Hits so RTE Gold would fill a gap for those areas.

    152
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    Mute Mike Keane
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    Dec 8th 2021, 2:09 PM

    @Brian Heffernan: Well said Keith.

    27
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    Mute Brian Kelly
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    Dec 8th 2021, 2:47 PM

    @Brian Heffernan: It’s bad because Dan Healey has lost the plot these day’s. What on earth is he thinking with these day’s? His Arse it must be… putting them 3 on the breakfast show especially that dreadful horror voice of Doireen! Christ she is bad!!!

    23
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    Mute Billy Davies
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    Dec 8th 2021, 3:44 PM

    @Ed: listen to Jennifer Zamparelli or allowing someone to get sick into your ears? Which would you prefer?

    9
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    Mute Ed
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    Dec 8th 2021, 3:52 PM

    @Billy Davies: I’d rather choose none of them if that’s ok.

    8
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    Mute John Barry
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    Dec 8th 2021, 4:13 PM

    @Ed: Good point, Kind of a BBC Radio 2 which is the biggest station in the UK..

    3
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    Mute Cian Nolan
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    Dec 8th 2021, 1:34 PM

    Delighted for Dermot and Dave. Really enjoy the vast majority of their stuff (except for Noni).

    57
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    Mute Theportobello
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    Dec 8th 2021, 1:51 PM

    Lol at those PR comments – trebles all round – everyone’s doing brilliantly! The reality is there is very little choice on Irish FM radio – I wonder if they survey how many people are listening to online stations or 6music?!

    60
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    Mute PJ Berry
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    Dec 8th 2021, 2:22 PM

    How come Lyric doesn’t rate a mention?

    49
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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Dec 8th 2021, 2:43 PM

    @PJ Berry: Yes, I’ve listened to Lyric FM for a lot of my life. It has a smaller listenership according to the report.

    https://www.bai.ie/en/download/136711/

    12
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    Mute Hugh Morris
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    Dec 8th 2021, 1:28 PM

    Radio novvvvaaaaaaa. Except Dee Woods, she’s a tool

    53
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    Mute Sean O Cathasaigh
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    Dec 8th 2021, 2:01 PM

    The quiz at four on ray d’arcys show every day is kinda boring and dragged out. He’s asking contestants what they’re having for the dinner just to kill a few extra minutes

    61
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    Mute Peter
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    Dec 8th 2021, 3:54 PM

    @Sean O Cathasaigh:

    That’s my favourite part

    5
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    Mute Brian Kelly
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    Dec 8th 2021, 2:09 PM

    2FM breakfast show has to be the worst ever since radio started. They must have picked them three gob.. sh..it..s from the bottom of the toilet bowl. Jennifer Zapp is just as bad. Now Tracy is good at her job. God it would be great if Radio Nova from the 80s came back on air. They were propper DJs.

    55
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    Mute Dave Barrett
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    Dec 8th 2021, 1:54 PM

    RTÉ have a radio station? Must look for it.

    26
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    Mute Hugh Morris
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    Dec 8th 2021, 7:48 PM

    @Dave Barrett: you can’t see radio, it’s invisible

    8
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    Mute Dave Barrett
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    Dec 8th 2021, 9:03 PM

    @Hugh Morris: Radio Station. Where they broadcast from. Not the frequency.

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    Mute Fachtna Roe
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    Dec 8th 2021, 1:45 PM

    Even allowing for language difference, I’m surprised that Tús Áite at 1700 on RNaG isn’t on the list. Only from 3 to 5 news topics discussed daily in ‘standard’ Irish, at drive-time, calmly, without adverts, and without the need to reach hastily to turn off the bongo-bongo at 1800 that’s on RTE1. RNaG(+TG4) is possibly the only good reason to pay a TV licence.

    25
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    Mute William Tallon
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    Dec 8th 2021, 3:56 PM

    @Fachtna Roe: Interesting. Good to see an unbiased comment on here for a change! But that’s enough about my comment…

    9
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    Mute Hugh Morris
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    Dec 8th 2021, 7:48 PM

    @William Tallon: LOL, you’re a leg end

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    Mute William Tallon
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    Dec 8th 2021, 7:55 PM

    @Hugh Morris: The game’s afoot…

    3
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    Mute Marie Broomfield
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    Dec 8th 2021, 2:36 PM

    Newstalk Breakfast,The Pat Kenny Show a bit of Lunchtime Live, a bit of Moncrieff and a bit of Spin SW and that’s it for me. I find all the rest a tad silly! Nobody makes up for Gerry Ryan, Larry Gogan, Gay or Marian… “those days are gone…”

    32
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    Mute David Saunders
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    Dec 8th 2021, 4:29 PM

    10 songs on repeat all day long

    16
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    Mute John Johnes
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    Dec 8th 2021, 2:09 PM

    Government should make haste and prepare an urgent meeting regarding the implementation of a Radio tax to support RTE

    16
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    Mute Victor Feldman
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    Dec 8th 2021, 2:53 PM

    What is bewildering for us non Irish is how boring rte is to us non Irish ears and then there’s rte, s total lack of any diversity.. All its presenters and output is all much cut from the same cloth.. Why eg are their no afro presenters.. Or any other ethnic or religion.
    .

    19
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    Mute Victor Feldman
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    Dec 8th 2021, 3:02 PM

    Irish radio listeners must have a high boredom threshold… Its seems to me that most people under seventy don’t watch or listen to rte. And then the tam ratings include those that are just switching channels.
    Ie retention span!

    10
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    Mute Rostyballs78
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    Dec 8th 2021, 10:05 PM

    Irish Radio, regardless of who owns it, is absolutely brutal. How many times a day do these stations think we need to hear Adele bemoaning some personal problems for starters. Classic hits my bean bag. Pretty much the same 30 or so songs recycled over and over. And that Dua Lipa rendition of Elton Johns songs is some of the laziest music I’ve ever heard. There’s no effort in it. Same tripe over and over and over across all the stations.

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    Mute M
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    Dec 8th 2021, 3:27 PM

    yes if you add up all the listeners to every single station the total figure exceeds the population by 4 or 5 times so yeah even if i channel hop i guess i am counted.

    7
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    Mute Giles Wolohan
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    Dec 8th 2021, 2:45 PM

    Lies lies more lies

    12
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    Mute Garreth Byrne
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    Dec 8th 2021, 4:58 PM

    Those who have ears to hear let them hear. We lend our ears to endless patter, but weather forecasts are important.

    4
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    Mute AarCon
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    Dec 8th 2021, 6:17 PM

    The Ray D’Arcy Affect

    4
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    Mute John
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    Dec 8th 2021, 6:12 PM

    where I live i have very little choice, even hard to pick up rte since the they done away with dab radio. lucky I’m getting a Bluetooth radio from Santa.

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    Mute AarCon
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    Dec 8th 2021, 6:18 PM

    The D’Arcy Affect

    1
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