To say that Facebook is a bit of phenomena is a bit of understanding...
1.37 billion people on average log onto Facebook everyday, in fact some of the statistics around this social media platform are staggering.
Photo uploads total 300 million per day. (Source: Gizmodo)
Five new profiles are created every second. There are 83 million fake profiles. (Source: CNN)
Every 60 seconds on Facebook: 510,000 comments are posted, 293,000 statuses are updated, and 136,000 photos are uploaded. (Source: The Social Skinny)
And the list could go on.
What is of interest here, however, is some of the psychological aspects of this platform. We could talk about trolling and the other kinds of abuse that the system is open to, but what about the nature of what we post?
In a research paper published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences Vol 85 2015, it was reported that ...
"....extraverts more frequently updated about their social activities and everyday life, which was motivated by their use of Facebook to communicate and connect with others.
People high in openness were more likely to update about intellectual topics, consistent with their use of Facebook for sharing information.
Participants who were low in self-esteem were more likely to update about romantic partners, whereas those who were high in conscientiousness were more likely to update about their children.
Narcissists’ use of Facebook for attention-seeking and validation explained their greater likelihood of updating about their accomplishments and their diet and exercise routine. Furthermore, narcissists’ tendency to update about their accomplishments explained the greater number of likes and comments that they reported receiving to their updates."
The Facebook users surveyed in the research were asked to complete a personality profile known as the Big Five as well as measures of elf-esteem, narcissism. Big Five personality traits, also known as the five factor model (FFM), is a model based on common language descriptors of personality.
Other studies have suggested that:-
"....people who tend to be more agreeable post less often, people who are more open-minded are less likely to respond to other people’s updates yet will post more often about political issues and those who are conscientious tend to agree more often with other’s updates."
When it comes to overall Facebook use, other research has shown that excessive time online can damage relationships, make you less happy and even be difficult for those suffering from self-esteem issues.
Other research suggests that frequent postings that include selfies represent a longing for connection.
A paper published in 2012 had this to say about personalities and Facebook posts.
People with a lot of Facebook friends tend to have low self-esteem
Extraverts update their status more often than introverts.
Conscientious people organize their photos carefully.
Open people fill out their personal profiles most thoroughly.
Narcissists make deeper self-disclosures
Narcissist are prone to overly post self-promotional content.
Neurotic people post mostly photos
Agreeable people are tagged in other people’s photos most often.
As one writer noted:
Although we may think we’re masking our insecurities or portraying ourselves in the most favourable light, our behaviour on social media reveals more than we might think. It’s not just what we post on Facebook that reveals information about our personalities — it’s also what we don’t post that can be quite telling. (Amy Morin 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do).
Our social media profiles and interactions are used as indicators of the type of customer we 'might be' an so marketeers are VERY interested in this kind of analysis. Perhaps we, as social media users, might like to consider how what we post can be interpreted by others.
Scott Ayres, author of Facebook All in One for Dummies, has produced a guide for marketers about Facebook Personalities as he sees them. Whilst not subject to the same rigours of the earlier academic papers, it does promote some very worthwhile discussion...
1. The Social Athlete
2. The Social Luddite
3. The Social Nurturer
4, The Social Lazzies
5. The Social Geek
6 The Social Doer
7. The Social Lurker
8. The Social Inspirer
9. The Social Ranter
10. The Social Visionary
You can read Scott's descriptions for each of these in his 'post-planner' post (link below).
(remember Big Five personality descriptors are just that, descriptors of personality type and related behaviours, NOT a psychiatric diagnoses
references
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