Psychologists at a university in London have studied more than 500 Facebook users to find out what their status updates reveal about their personalities.
The Brunel Uni study tracked the recurring themes linked to various personality traits, including extroversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness.
The results:
• People with low self-esteem post more frequently about their current romantic partner.
• Narcissists more frequently update about their achievements.
• Narcissists also write more updates about physical appearances — their diet and exercise routines.
• People high in openness post more often about current events, research, or political views — they tend to be creative, intellectual and curious.
• Conscientiousness is associated with writing more updates about one’s children.
Brunel’s Dr Tara Marshall said while self-centred posts often reinforce a user’s narcissism, there’s a catch:
“Although our results suggest that narcissists’ bragging pays off because they receive more likes and comments to their status updates, it could be that their Facebook friends politely offer support while secretly disliking such egotistical displays.
“Greater awareness of how one’s status updates might be perceived by friends could help people to avoid topics that annoy more than they entertain,” she said …
Gym selfies, for example.
