On Facebook, Smart People Like Curly Fries

A new study shows that Facebook likes can tell a lot about someone, including that smart people like curly fries, Stephen Colbert and thunderstorms

Cambridge University researchers published a study that says Facebook likes can predict personal attributes such as sexual orientation, personality traits, intelligence and drug use.
 
The 58,000 Facebook user study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences said that people liking certain things correlate to these attributes, according to NPR. The study was conducted through an app called myPersonality, which is owned by one of the researchers.
 
From the report: 

The study found that the best predictors of high intelligence include "Thunderstorms," The Colbert Report, "Science," and, yes, "Curly Fries." Low intelligence, it said, was indicated by "Sephora," "I Love Being A Mom," "Harley Davidson," and "Lady Antebellum."

Predicting a gay man is as easy as liking "Wicked: The Musical" and "Mac Cosmetics," while straight men tended to like Shaq, WWE and "Being Confused After Waking Up From Naps."
 
The architects of the study also stated that although some of the Facebook likes related to attributes, they could not explain why highly intelligent people seemed to really like Curly Fries. However, the scientists did say that the information could be used to spot trends and cater to advertisers.
 
While some of us may already suspect that smart people like Science and dumb people like WWE, those of us who love curly fries already knew about that high intelligence thing.
 
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