Facebook has filed a patent application for a technology that will automatically detect the users’ socio-economic status and segregate them in one of three classes — working class, middle class or upper class.
According to the patent, the social media giant wants to build a system that collects users’ personal data, such as education, homeownership and internet usage, in order to predict their socio-economic status.
The patent, that was made public on Friday, suggested an algorithm that might improve Facebook’s targeting capabilities, helping it serve up more relevant advertisements to users.
“By predicting the socio-economic groups of users, [Facebook] is able to help the third party present sponsored content to the target users,” the patent read.
