How much does your Facebook activity say about you? Try answering the following:
How often do you post about each of these topics on Facebook (or your social media of choice)? Answer never, rarely, sometimes or often
- Your social activities (eg nights out)
- Your everyday life
- Intellectual topics (eg science articles)
- Your partner
- Your children
- Your achievements, diets and exercise
A 2015 study of 555 brave volunteers (at London’s Brunel University) explored the relationship between people’s Facebook updates and various personality measures.
The results, predictably, found people who often post about their social activities and everyday life tend to be extroverts. However, people who often post about intellectual topics do not, as you might expect, show a tendency for introversion. What they do show is “openness to experience”, reflecting an interest in exploration generally (eg travel, new experiences, even risky behaviour), not just that of the intellectual kind.
People who frequently post about their partner tend to report low self-esteem, while those who often post about their children tend to score high on conscientiousness (ie they’re people who get things done). Those who post a lot about their achievements, diets and exercise show, unsurprisingly, a tendency towards narcissism, but these types of posts also get the most likes – at least according to the posters themselves.
A fully referenced version of this article is available at benambridge.com. Order Psy-Q by Ben Ambridge (Profile Books, £8.99) for £6.99 at bookshop.theguardian.com
