Facebook status updates have the ability to reflect people's personality and traits, such as low self-esteem as well as narcissism, research says.
Brunel University psychologists piloted a survey with Facebook users as their subjects. The survey aimed the relationship between the subjects' personality traits and the topics of the status they post on the social media, as per Science Daily.
The survey involved 555 Facebook users and they were asked to accomplish a survey online.
Five personality traits were gauged by the survey. The traits include agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, neuroticism, and openness. In addition to the five traits, the online survey also gauged self-esteem and narcissism.
The study findings showed that those people who frequently posted status updates about their present relationship or love life on Facebook actually have decreased self-esteem.
On the other hand, people who often wrote about their achievements as their Facebook status were viewed as narcissistic. This is because the number of Facebook likes and comments their status get reflect their thirst for attention and acceptance from the community.
Primary topics of narcissistic Facebook users usually revolve on diet and fitness routine. These people use the social media to show the world the effort they devote to their physical appearance.
While Facebook status posts may be futile expression of oneself, these may also serve as "direct indicators" of one's personality, according to Ask Men.
Brunel University psychology lecturer Dr. Tara Marshall said that people get satisfaction from the likes and comments they get from their Facebook status posts.
Facebook users whose status posts get many likes and comments feel social belongingness while those who have few or no likes and comments feel secluded.
The research team recommends that future studies on social media status should aim to collect information on people's responses to specific Facebook status, the feasibility of giving an update, and the probability of one to be removed as friend.