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People are silhouetted as they pose with mobile devices in front of a screen projected with a Facebook logo, in this picture illustration taken in Zenica October 29, 2014. Facebook Inc warned on Tuesday of a dramatic increase in spending in 2015 and projected a slowdown in revenue growth this quarter, slicing a tenth off its market value. Facebook shares fell 7.7 percent in premarket trading the day after the social network announced an increase in spending in 2015 and projected a slowdown in revenue growth this quarter. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

A new research carried out by the psychologists at Brunel University London indicates that an individual’s Facebook status can reveal his personality traits. It suggests that the person who posts updates about his/her romantic partner is most likely to have self-esteem issues and those who gloat about how they lost weight sharing their diet and exercise regime are a typical narcissists.

The researchers for their study examined more than 500 Facebook users for their motives that influence the choice of updates and their personality traits. By doing so they wanted to establish a link between an individual’s personality and the way he uses the social media. The study participants were asked to complete an online survey which measured their five personality traits such as extroversion, openness, neuroticism, conscientiousness and agreeableness along with self-esteem and narcissism.

The study results do indicate that those who regularly update their Facebook statuses bragging their own achievements are perhaps a bunch of insecure attention-seekers. To this Psychology lecturer Dr Tara Marshall, from Brunel University adds, “It might come as little surprise that Facebook status updates reflect people’s personality traits. However, it is important to understand why people write about certain topics on Facebook because their updates may be differentially rewarded with ‘likes’ and comments. People who receive more likes and comments tend to experience the benefits of social inclusion, whereas those who receive none feel ostracised.”

The researchers publish their findings in the journal Personality and Individual Differences which also suggests that individuals who post a lot about what's going on in the world tend to be creative, intellectual and curious, while those who write a lot about their children are more conscientious than most. Another observation made by the analysis was that the ones who posted about their achievements, various social activities and their everyday life events got the most number of likes and comments. This was explained by Marshall as, “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.”

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