Yes, people are who they say they are on Facebook
One of the reasons I often given people for using Facebook is that overwhelmingly people on it are really who they say they are.
Whether it’s in the world of politics, consumer goods, public affairs or one of many others that is under consideration, this feature of Facebook users is often an important advantage over some other online options as it allows people to more effectively build up relationships, and with the audiences that really matter to them.
That view about people really being who they say they are is based on my experiences – but that is evidence of the widespread anecdotal and qualitative type rather than based on surveys and numbers.
So it was reassuring to find this in the New York Times:
Anyone who has ever spent time on a dating Web site like Match.com knows that the online profile often doesn’t match the person in real life.
So when University of Texas researchers began studying Facebook friends, they expected that users also would exaggerate accomplishments and offer an enhanced version of themselves. To their surprise, they discovered that Facebook profiles typically gave an accurate and realistic impression of the user’s real-life personality.
The scientists, led by a psychology professor, Sam Gosling, collected 236 profiles of young adults on Facebook as well as a similar social networking site in Germany. The researchers used personality questionnaires and interviewed friends to determine the profile owners’ actual personalities, assessing traits like extroversion, agreeableness, openness, neuroticism and conscientiousness. The survey also measured how they wished to be, assessing their ideal personality traits. Using the same rating system, the researchers also assessed each user’s personality based on the information provided in the online profile.
The researchers expected the Facebook profiles to match an idealized version of the user’s personality. But to their surprise, the online Facebook profile matched the real-world personality test.
PArtially, I suspect, because the main motivation for being on FB is to engage with actual, real life friends. I could project a persona on there that’s false, and some that know me (like yourself) might not know, but the people I do deal with daily would.
Whereas on dating sites, your objective is to impress strangers, different criteria. Jennie and I met on LJ (essentially a precursor to FB in many respects), and knew we’d get on based on mutual friends, interests, etc. The networking aspect means it’s important to be you, not persona you.
Wonder how it works for people whose public image is an exaggerated persona of themselves? Especially those for who it’s deliberate, like Clarkson.