The 'like' button on Facebook has become a hot trend that makes it easy for Facebook users to show what they favor. It has become so popular that Facebook announced last year that there's an average of 2.7 billion new likes a day on the social media site.
Facebook users can like everything from music genres to clothing brands with that friendly, blue, thumbs up 'like' button.
People have been getting click-happy with the 'like' button, but what they don't know is that the 'like' is revealing a whole lote more about the individual. A new study suggests your likes on Facebook give employers insight to your hidden secrets.
Researchers gave 58,000 Facebook volunteers from all over the country a psychological and intelligence test as well as their profile and 'like' information. Then they correlated this information to interpret genders, personality traits, age, ethnicity, religion, politics, and even your sexual orientation or indicates drug use.
According to the study you may be extroverted if you like cheerleading, or shy if you like videogames--but researchers found not every trait has high predictive value . And not every correlation made sense. For example the algorythm used said that those who liked curly fries were smarter than the average facebook user.
Nonetheless, according to a Career Builder survey 37% of employers are checking social media websites before they hire potential employees . Whether the correlation between likes and traits is a reliable source for employment is debtable, but the research serves as a caution for facebook users and what you "like" online.
