Me According to Facebook

This is really interesting. With a little digging, you can find how Facebook defines you for advertising purposes--which is the most meaningful way they will define you, since that's where their revenue comes from. Some of the topics and categories they assign you are based on the pages you've liked and follow, things you've said about yourself in your profile, and the like--fairly self-defined--but others are based on their observations of your activity. It gives you a chance to see if your "actions" reflect who you think you are, at least in terms of who you are on Facebook; which also gives you a chance to see how who you are on Facebook compares to who you are otherwise.

A friend shared the NY Times article Liberal, Moderate or Conservative? See How Facebook Labels You, which led me to the information. After logging into Facebook, go to facebook.com/ads/preferences. There you will see different categories, with the option to expand each to see the full list. At the top of each category is the statement, "Choose an interest to preview examples of ads you might see on Facebook or remove it from your ad preferences." Politics is in the "Lifestyle and Culture" category.

Here's my list:

• Democratic Party (United States)
• Fantasy Books
• Books
• Community Issues
• World of a Song of Ice and Fire
• Religion
• Kansas City Metropolitan Area
• Liberalism
• Ramadan
• Society
• Holy Land
• Man
• Mythology
• North America
• American Culture
• Search Engine Indexing
• Absolute (Philosophy)
• Eclecticism
• US Politics (Liberal)
• Likely to Engage in Politics (Liberal)
• Education and Library
• Frequent International Travelers
• Smartphones and Tablets
• Photo Uploaders
• Summer Games 2016
• [Other details about my hardware and software use]
• Generation X
• Family-based Households
• Social Ethics/Justice
• [Other details about where I've lived, worked, and studied]

A few surprises, but mostly accurate.