Summary:
This paper examined the potential linkage between the personality of a user of FB and their relationships (examined by the number of contacts they had. They selected a large sample of people from the United States, primarily because the personality test used was designed for US culture. Nevertheless, they utilized a Facebook application called “myPersonality” to measure the 5 personality dimensions – Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism. They reasoned that utilizing this application to survey users instead of pen/paper resulted in a higher quality of results, because personal incentives (accurate description of their personality) were a highly motivating factor. Upon receiving the results from the users, they researchers found that people who self-monitor themselves do not correlate with a high number of Facebook “friends”. They conclude, from their study, that knowing this information can lead to more targeted advertisements (and scams).
Response:
I will begin this response by stating that I am an individual who HATES Facebook. Now that I have made that statement, my initial response to this paper and its findings are exactly what the final statement is “The street finds its own uses for things”. Everyone is different, and thus, everyone uses Facebook differently, simply. What is consistent however is the representation of ourselves on Facebook is never truly what we are. The statement in the paper made by Jaron Lanier, who said, “The most effective young Facebook users…are the ones who create successful online fictions about themselves”, is entirely true to me. I simply can’t believe that you can measure personality at all on Facebook, when it is a tool to present oneself fictitiously. In addition, there are many users who simply have contacts they do not communicate with consistently. These weak relationships should not be considered at all if a friend count is being used to determine personality traits. If I added everyone I knew in high school to my Facebook account, and took this test, I would be an extrovert (or anyone else for that matter). All in all, Facebook is not a good tool to measure personality, when everyone tries to look “good” on Facebook J
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