Facebook Like | featured news

Clicking those friendly blue "like" buttons strewn across the Web may be doing more than marking you as a fan of Coca-Cola or Lady Gaga. It could out you as gay. It might reveal how you vote.

Nick Bilton of the New York Times Bits blog wrote a post the other day about how despite having grown his number of Facebook subscribers to a healthy 400,000, he noticed that his actual engagement numbers (likes and shares) had plummeted per post into the low double digits. "Something is puzzling on Facebook," he muses.

Facebook isn't just for goofy pictures and silly chatter. Shoppers' actions online help dictate what's in stores this holiday season.

Facebook is weeding out fake "Likes" on its social network that are being caused by spammers, malware and black marketeers as it strives to maintain credibility as an advertising platform. Facebook said the number of Likes, or endorsements by users, on corporate pages is likely to drop by less than 1 percent, on average, after the crackdown.

For the last few days, “The Apparition” has been adding about 5,000 Facebook Likes per day, by far the most for films opening this week. “Hit & Run” and “Premium Rush” have been adding about 2,000.

Facebook now uses your name to post the things you "liked" maybe long ago, in a way that can get you in hot water in the here and now.