*Source: flickr.com
1. Do you have a Facebook?
If yes, please continue to the next question.
2. Do you identify your religion on your profile?
If yes, please continue.
3. Are you single?
If your answer was yes, then the study done by researchers from Stanford University's Psychology Department would be considered accurate.
Researchers Young, Dutta, and Dommetry did an experiment to study the relationship between the information Facebook users revealed on their profiles to their intentions in doing so (more specifically, whether or not they searching for a romantic partner).
The results?
Young, Dutta, and Dommetry found a statistical significance between these two variables. One of the significant patterns they discovered was that individuals who listed their religion, also tended to identify themselves as "single" as part of their relationship status. The researchers concluded that it is very likely that Facebook users (or users of other social networking sites) "paint a picture of themselves to potential partners," thus revealing more personal information about themselves on their profiles.
*Source: flickr.com
Still not convinced? Well, another study shows that narcissistic individuals are more likely to reveal more about themselves on their public profiles. Shocker right? Not really, but at least the researchers (Buffardi and Campbell of University of Georgia) found evidence.
Last, but not least, a research study was done by Orr, Sisic, Ross, Simmering, Arseneault, and Orr of the University of Windsor to examine shy individuals and their tendency to reveal themselves. The results were interesting to say the least, and certainly unexpected.
The researchers found that the more shy the individuals were, the more time they spent on Facebook. However, despite the fact that they spent more time on Facebook, these individuals had a significantly lower number of Facebook friends.
Of course, more research is being done considering that social networking, despite it supposedly being started hundreds of years ago, is still fairly new (computer and web-site wise). The lesson here is not to say that finding a potential partner or potential friends through social networks such as Facebook is a bad thing. Let's face it, we all seek potential relationships/friendships. But it is to simply be careful in revealing such intimiate details about yourself to the world.
If you would like more information on these studies, please click here for the article "The Psychology of Twitter, Facebook, and other Social Networking Devices."
Now if you will excuse me, I shall delete some of my "friends" on Facebook...
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