Social Media Doesn’t Necessarily Hide Your Real Personality
Justin Lewis / Stone / Getty Images
When we think about social media, we often assume that most people are presenting an idealized version of their lives. It’s easy enough to do since we can choose what we want to share (or not).
Whether it’s filtering a selfie before we post or begging a friend to untag us in a photo that’s not very flattering, we do have the ability to curate the image that’s associated with us online. We also get to more tightly control what we say—for example, crafting a comment until it hits just the right note.
Even if we think we’re taking steps to hide our “true” selves online, our social media profiles might actually tell people a lot more about who we really are than we realize.
Surprisingly, one study found that your Facebook profile is actually pretty good at conveying your real personality.
Gosling—the researcher who studied animal personalities—has also done quite a bit of research on human personality.
In one study, the researchers looked at the online profiles of 236 U.S. college-aged people. The participants filled out questionnaires that were designed to measure personality traits including the Big Five (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness.
Observers in the study then rated the personalities of the participants based on the online profiles. The observations were then compared to the results of the personality questionnaires that the participants took. The researchers found that the observers were able to get an accurate “read” on a person’s true personality just by looking at their Facebook profile.
Gosling said that one reason social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and others have become such a huge part of our lives is probably because they do let us share who we are.
“First, it allows profile owners to let others know who they are and, in doing so, satisfies a basic need to be known by others,” says Gosling. “Second, it means that profile viewers feel they can trust the information they glean from online social network profiles, building their confidence in the system as a whole.”
When other researchers have looked at links between how we use social media and our personalities, they also found that certain activities seem to be linked with certain traits.
One analysis of studies found that extroverts tended to spend more time interacting with others on social media, while people who scored highly in conscientiousness tended to spend a lot of time on social trying to learn about others.
Studies have also shown that the words we use to communicate on social media might be influenced by our personalities, too. For example, in one study, words like “love” and “party,” predicted posts by people with more extraversion, while words like “family,” and “week” predicted posts from people with more conscientiousness traits.
One personality that may not be as accurately represented on social media? Neuroticism. Studies have suggested that people who score high in neurotic traits tend to present less authentic versions of themselves online.
Some studies have actually linked neurotic personality traits to a reliance on social media that is even unhealthy, and marked by intense feelings of “FOMO” and unrealistic expectations or comparisons.
