What Do Your Facebook “Likes” Say About You?

The simple act of clicking “like” on a friend’s status or on a brand’s Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) page time and time again leaves behind important clues about the personalities and backgrounds of those who use the social network.

While this observation is far from revolutionary, it has only just been scientifically tested.

In conjunction with Microsoft, researchers at the University of Cambridge compiled data from 58,000 Facebook users who gave the study permission to analyze their “likes,” demographic profiles, and psychometric test results through the myPersonality application. According the report, which was published on Monday in a journal entitled Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and summarized on the University’s website, these pieces of information can paint a startlingly realistic picture of the person doing the clicking.

The University described its findings in this manner: “Research shows that intimate personal attributes can be predicted with high levels of accuracy from ‘traces’ left by seemingly innocuous digital behaviour.”