How Cheesy Are You? Online Quizzes Reveal Clues

[IIOY]

I'm surprised this piece didn't mention the data collection that is taking place when you take these quizzes. From today's WSJ:

How do you feel about the boom in online quizzes?


A. I complain to my friends but secretly can't stop playing them.

B. I love them and irrationally let the results affect my mood.

C. What does that even mean, I'm a "Ringo"? I'm obviously a "Paul" or "John."


The totally unscientific answer, in the true spirit of such quizzes, is some combination of the above.


Online quizzes have become a cheap—if vexing—form of modern self-analysis.


Virginia Gilbert, 52 years old, a therapist in Los Angeles and a single mother, says she was recently upset after she took the quiz, "Which '60s Stereotype Are You?" and received the answer "A housewife."


"It's just not me at all," says Ms. Gilbert. "It seemed like most of my friends were getting 'Mad Men.' Why couldn't I get that?"


Conversely, when Ms. Gilbert took the quiz "Which Rock Star Should You Hook Up With?" and received her idol, Mick Jagger, she says she was "ridiculously happy for days."


In recent months, online quizzes asking users to uncover what kind of cheese they are, or "Friends" character, have proliferated across social media, largely sparked by a push from the New York media company BuzzFeed.


The quizzes have become so ubiquitous on Facebook and Twitter streams that users say they can't stop taking them, despite bursts of joy or sadness or anger based on the results. Some are using them to choose a lipstick or hair color. Others are using them to reaffirm life choices.


Mandi Kane, 30, who works in public relations in Santa Fe, N.M., says she took the quiz "Which Sorority Would You Be In?" and was thankful to receive the one she belonged to in college: Kappa Kappa Gamma.


"To be honest, I probably would have kept taking it until I got the right results," Ms. Kane says.


None of this is surprising to Summer Burton, who, until moving to a new position at the company recently, was BuzzFeed's managing editorial director in charge of the team creating online quizzes.


BuzzFeed, founded in 2006, had previously been known for its lists, such as "40 Things That Will Make You Feel Old." But at the end of last year, Ms. Burton says her team noticed that a quiz they had published—"Which 'Grease' Pink Lady Are You?"—was getting traction with users.


In January, they landed their first big hit with, "What City Should You Actually Live In?" which Ms. Burton says received 20 million total page views, among the most trafficked posts in the site's history.


That one was surpassed in February with "What State Do You Actually Belong In?" with 41 million page views since it posted, the most traffic any post on BuzzFeed has ever received.


A majority of people who took the quiz got Wisconsin. "At some point, we figured out we had told more people to move to Wisconsin than actually live in Wisconsin," Ms. Burton says.


Those results betrayed a thinly veiled secret: The quizzes are completely unscientific, with the questions (and computer-generated results) put together by writers more interested in driving traffic than deep psychological insight.


One of BuzzFeed's most prolific quiz writers, Matthew Perpetua, 35, says he has written more than 50 quizzes in about six months. Mr. Perpetua is no psychologist—he was an art major—but says he figured out that quiz-takers want to receive an answer that makes them happy.


One of his most popular quizzes, "What Kind of French Fry Are You?" is filled with questions about regret and childhood nostalgia.


"They were soul-searching questions, but really positive answers at the end," Mr. Perpetua says. (Sample answer: "Pommes Frites: You're classy and refined and totally unpretentious.")


Richard Levak, a psychologist in Del Mar, Calif., who has written four text books on personality assessment, says he often sees patients who have taken some kind of quiz online because "people are hungry to know about themselves."


His advice: "Take them with a large grain of salt."


Still, they continue to proliferate.


When the entertainment website Zimbio posted "Which Disney Princess Are You?" in January, it boosted page views to the website's quizzes to 97 million in one day, up from an average of about 8 million across the whole site before quizzes were launched, says John Newlin, vice president of content at Livingly Media, the owner of Zimbio. (Most people got Snow White: "You're a gentle loving person who's a friend to creatures big and small.")


PlayBuzz, a quiz-centric website co-founded in 2012 by Shaul Olmert, the son of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, was the 14th most-read site on mobile in mid-September out of tens of thousands of websites tracked by Quantcast, an audience-measurement company. Readers flocked to hits such as "What Classic Novel Describes Your Life?" and "What is the Color of Your Aura?"


One surprising smash: "Which Barry Manilow Song Best Describes You?" which took off after Mr. Manilow tweeted it, Mr. Olmert says. (Most people got "Can't Smile Without You.")


At PlayBuzz, users are invited to create their own quizzes, which can lead to rather obscure topics and answers. A July quiz asked: "Which Hot Dog Represents Your Inner Self?" (One answer: "You're this crazy gourmet dog that may or may not actually be a baked potato!")


"People do feel that when they are answering those questions, the results tell them something about themselves," Mr. Olmert says.


Sometimes the quizzes reveal what the takers are willing to share about themselves to others, as the websites can track usage across Facebook and Twitter.


When Zimbio posted "Which Late Night Host Are You?" people who got Jimmy Fallon were 45% more likely to share their result on Facebook, compared with less than 20% for Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel.


"[Stephen] Colbert and Jon Stewart held up pretty well," Mr. Newlin says.


Likewise, when BuzzFeed published the quiz: "What Kind of Dog Are You?" it found that Corgis—a long, squat breed of dog—are very popular.


"When people get 'Corgi,' they automatically share, but if they get another kind of dog, they don't share," says Ms. Burton.


Francisca Johanek, a 19-year-old college student at Georgetown University, says she and her friends used to love taking quizzes in magazines like Seventeen. Now they've switched to online quizzes, but aren't always happy with the results.


Ms. Johanek was nonplused when she took the quiz "What Kind of Sandwich Are You?" and got "a soggy veggie wrap."


"A lot of my friends got 'grilled cheese' and 'peanut butter and jelly,' and I was like, 'a soggy veggie wrap?' Not even a normal veggie wrap?"

[rupertpenny]

This article is really cracking me up. The quizzes aren't based in science? You don't say.

Maybe I should blame more of my problems on the fact that a buzzfeed quiz sorted me in Slytherin.