What your Facebook status updates reveal about your personality

When Facebook asks you “What’s on your mind” it is like a personality test. Answers to this question reveals a lot about your personality and how you are feeling according to a new study published in Personality and Individual differences.

Study explored the pattern of status updates and main motives to use Facebook. The list of motives ranges from attention seeking, feel loved, stay informed, express your opinion and communicate with people you don’t often see.

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The study linked peoples’ status updates with their personality types and insecurities. The study findings identify five personality types and their likely motives to use Facebook.

People with Intellectual curiosity:

People who talk about intellectual topics generally are high in openness to experience; they have an active imagination, attentiveness to inner feelings and intellectual curiosity. Such people prefer to share information on current events, research or politics instead of sharing what they ate for dinner. With this personality type people mostly share impersonal information.

Extroverts:

People who are extroverts use Facebook to communicate and connect with others. Generally, their updates talk a lot about their everyday life and social activities. They frequently update their status as life goes on. Their Facebook page gives a true glimpse of their everyday life. They try to catch the attention of their family, friends and colleagues with an ability of presenting ordinary things of life as mega events and major achievements. 

People with high conscientiousness:

People who are careful, thorough and vigilant rank high in conscientiousness. Such people tend to discuss their kids’ activities, share their stories and highlight their achievements.

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Researchers attached with this study believe conscientious people want to draw admiration from others for their personal achievements and parenting accomplishments.

Narcissists:

Narcissists tend to use Facebook updates to talk about what they are doing or to share about their little accomplishments. Researchers see this tendency of narcissist people an effort to make themselves look good.

In the process, narcissists usually get a lot of likes and comments on their updates that meet their need of recognition and validation. 

Other Peoples’ response to narcissists’ updates is very interesting. Research reveals that close friends of narcissist often offer thumbs up even when they don’t like his/her post. Acquaintances keep themselves at a distance and they ignore narcissist’s excessive self-admiration. Research found acquaintances tend to get un-friend with narcissists over time.

Neurotic people:

Those people who are more likely to experience stress, envy and guilt use Facebook to gain attention and support what they lack in real life. They tend to look at darker side of the life. Therefore they exaggerate their daily life frustrations and failures as insurmountable issues and major problems.

Attention and sympathy seeking is their primary motivation to use Facebook. Their updates talk about their problems, grievances and failures in a way that shows life is not fair to them. They get a sense of validation when people offer consolidation and express sympthies for their problems. 

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