Thomson Reuters
This is yet another case of Facebook knowing way more about you than you think.
The social network is categorizing its users as liberal, conservative, or moderate. This information is valuable for campaign managers and advertisers, especially in the midst of election season.
For some, Facebook is able to come to conclusions about your political leanings easily, if you mention a political party on your page. For those that are less open about politics on social media, Facebook makes assumptions based on pages you like.
As The New York Times explained, if you like Ben and Jerry's Facebook page and most of the other people that like that page identify as liberal, Facebook might assume you too are liberal.
Personally, I'm not too politically active on Facebook and I was curious to see how they categorized me. To my surprise, I am "very liberal," when I was expecting "moderate" or "conservative."
To find out how Facebook has categorized you, just follow these steps:
Go to your Ad Preferences page on FacebookUsing this link, you can see some of the ad preferences Facebook has for you.
Next, you should see this Interests page:Screenshot/BI
On the right of the Interests section, look for "More" and then click on "Lifestyle and Culture"Screenshot/BI
Under "Lifestyle and Culture," look for US Politics and your political leaning should be in parentheses next to it. (You might need to click on See More a couple times)Screenshot/BI
And there you have it: Facebook's assumption of your political beliefs. Were they right?
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