Facebook is a terrific place to observe other people's behavior. Not simply through the oft-inappropriate pictures they post or the vapid details in their "About Me." Rather, the ways people use Facebook can speak volumes about their personalities.
In the spirit of being highly unscientific (yet high-larious), we've narrowed down Facebook personalities to six (6, seis, sei, sechs) categories, described for you below.
We want to know: What category do you fit in?
The LinkedIn Professional Transposed on the Cool Site: This is a category for those people whose sole purpose of being on Facebook is to network with like-minded professionals. Their photos are from business functions; their posted links are all thinly veiled self-promotional items; and everyone on their Friends list looks like the guy from the "I'm a PC" commercial. Occasionally they'll get crazy and send someone a virtual cocktail... but only during a company-approved happy hour (and then they'll try to sell you something, anyway).
The My "Friends" Are My Friends Facebooker: These Facebookers are oftentimes baby-boomers who joined the site to keep in touch with real people in their lives, view their relatives' vacation photos, and keep tabs on their kids. Their version of a status update is something wholesome, like, "Betty White is enjoying spending time with her family and friends during the holiday season." Their Friends list contains
only their actual friends and family, whom they enjoy bestowing with virtual gifts for birthdays and holidays.
The Oversharer: You consider Facebook your personal, God-granted soundstage/pulpit/billboard from which you can provide your fans (in your mind, the entire planet) with real-time updates on what you're doing, drinking, eating, feeling, smelling, vomiting up, and suffering from. It's likely you were ignored as a child. Now you will be ignored as a virtual adult.
The Emotionally-Reactive Person Who Should Spend Less Time on Facebook, More at the Therapist: These disthymic people are detectable generally by their Relationship Status updates, which change during every high- and low-point of their relationships and are, therefore, regularly documented in our News Feeds. These emotionally needy folk take no issue with posting awkward status updates like, "John Katz just had his heart broken again and sees no real reason to continue with his life. :("
The I-Love-My-High-School-Year-Book Facebooker: Not only does this person still own the photographic remnants of the childhood you'd like to forget, but he has a scanner, and he knows how to use it. This type of Facebooker takes great joy out of posting class photos from grade school, tagging everyone, and using the Event application to try to set up reunions. He has also sought out all former classmates from K-college, created several "Class of" groups, and invited everyone to join and reminisce.
The No-Holds-Barred Party Hearty Guy: Is there a bong in your main photo? Do most of your pictures don the caption "HA! I don't even remember this!" Does your Facebook page actually smell of beer? These Facebookers are famous for status updates claiming, "Syd Brown is My A-Wipe of a boss thniks I'm out sick, but I'm just hungover! HAHAHAHA!" Privacy settings and caution are thrown to the wind for this wild and crazy Facebooker who appears to be wholly unaware that employers, too, are allowed on Facebook (uh, what?!).
Which social network archetype are you? Post it on your Facebook page, but don't forget to tell us about it here.
"While I do use Facebook to keep in touch with some people, I can't take the idea of a status update or a wall post very seriously, but I get a kick out of those who do."
I tend to get a kick out of status updates such as "Stuck in the woods, send a squirrel....and a sleeve of golf balls!"
fb is undoubtedly status update centric. I wouldn't be surprised if they release an Instant Messeging client for the desktop built around status updates. Or MSN messenger partners with fb and twitter. Maybe a fb-twitter-Yahoo partnership could resurrect yahoo from the lime light of nay say?
Glad I can keep you amused with my Facebook status updates. Just trying to keep things lively!
While I do use Facebook to keep in touch with some people, I can't take the idea of a status update or a wall post very seriously, but I get a kick out of those who do. It amazes me sometimes what people post publicly on their profiles and on each other's walls -- particularly people who are otherwise reserved with what they say in person.
I prefer to use Facebook as a stage for my random musings rather than to broadcast the details of my actual life. Perhaps, then, my profile says a lot about me. Like, this girl is completely insane, for instance. But I'll take that over #4 any day (no offense, #4s...).
As far as Facebook vs. MySpace is concerned, MySpace did give you the opportunity to post songs and personalize your profile with colors, but at least some of that can be done with third-party applications on Facebook. I think what you like better about MySpace is what I like better about Facebook. MySpace struck me as too cluttered and too spammy, so I got rid of it (my account, that is; not the entire MySpace entity... my powers only go so far).
I think that people act differently on different social networks depending on who they're friends with, how many people are listening/reading, and what type of network it is. Your profiles are a great example of that. Also, if you belong to a niche social community, for example, I'd think your posts/profile on there would be different than your posts/profile on something like Facebook where everyone is different, as you'd try to play up the side of you that resonates with others in that community.
I think the behaviors I describe can be found on other social networks as well. But with its newsfeeds and status update options, Facebook brings these personality types out in the open where everyone can readily observe them.
That virtual Aspergers may become epidemic as companies force encourage employees to use/participate in Twitter feeds, Facebook pages, company wikis, email, voicemail, U.S. mail, conference calls.
Never have we been more connected, but there's no evidence that this hyper-communication is having a real impact on the quality of that communication, or more importantly, on revenues and profit.
I think your categories are missing some facebook types...
I'm the type that says, "I have a facebook account? Oh yeah, I think I remember setting that thing up a year a go or so. What's my login again?"
As I've said on this board several times before...I honestly don't have that kind of time to manage and maintain any kind of social interaction. (Aspbergers helps a little). Working 12-18 hour days, monitoring and managing hundreds of servers around the world, I use the internet for work...I have very little time to use the internet for entertainment, especially social interaction!
Yeah, I'm that guy who sits in a dark room, lit only by the glow of the LCD (used to be CRT) displays, cranking the Trance/Goa/industrial music from my streaming ShoutCast server and keeps the computers that run social networks like Twitter and My Space and others running. I show up at work at 11am, work to 11pm, go home, log back into work and work till 2am, perhaps watch a little G4 while I'm working, and then get maybe 5-6 hours of sleep and then start the whole thing over again.
So, Where is the time to facebook? I also have a Linked-in account, but I doubt I could even remember the login.
Now, If you'll excuse me, they just called my flight for Singapore...yuck, another 13 hours where I will be unconnected to the internet...I hope I can survive!
Love the catagories, know people who fit into most of them - I am a 2 all the way...
I joined Facebook just to see what happened. I have a few current friends (ie, friends that I actually see and talk to in Real Life). I have a few friends that are from my Previous Life (dearest of friends from San Diego). And lo and behold, some of my friends from High School have found me. And they are not just people I went to school with, they are actually my real friends from back in the day.
I had lost touch with the High schoolers, due to inept social skills and NO EMAIL back then. I lost touch with the San Diegans due to inept social skills and FAILURE TO BACKUP my email addresses when my computer crashed...OK OK...it is all really my fault since I have inept social skills....
It has been great to reconnect with all of these folks...But I don't like it when someone *licks* me. ewwww. Am I supposed to lick them back?! Also since I use Firefox, I think a lot of the applications have trouble to work...or maybe my social skills just haven't improved.
Hello Nicole! What do you think, are these types general for every social network or just for Facebook? I think a lot of people have several profiles in different social networks and one is considered " the main". while others are for different purposes.Like my facebook profile is rarely updated , and I almost never upload photos.It exists to stay in touch with my friends from other countries. I also have two profiles on the main social network in my country.One is for my friends and it is private, and one is for my students:) which is open. I could assure you, that they are extremly different in many ways:))))
I know I don't fit into any of your Facebook categories and with good reason. I joined Facebook to follow this group http://www.theraokgroup.com which migrated there about a year and a half ago. The group migrated but never fully retooled itself. Ladies groups need all sorts of requirements, including small graphics and a certain kind of glad handing and "talking to near strangers" mentality.
Facebook, also has a fairly decent Second Life forum where I display photos of my Second Life.
One of my photo albums is for Second Life pictures, the other is for small graphics called "pressies" that have RAOK on them plus a message.
My time on Facebook is divided mainly between the RAOK group site there, and writing on my fellow RAOK members' walls. I have a quota for how many messages I leave and how many walls I visit today. I'm an old time site fighter (http://www.thesitefights.com was where I cut my teeth very unhappily. I also run my own competition and under another identity, I have a team at http://www.thewebleagues.com ) and the idea of "daily do's" just fits way too well.
I have an interest in seeing that ladies' group culture remains alive. Ladies groups were one of the best things that every happened to the net. Their culture with its emphasis on treating people without "judgement" and/or kindly, did not get recorded by the official historians of cyberculture. It is also diametrically opposed to that of a group that expelled me in 2004. The group was called Brainstorms, and I have sworn eternal vengance against it and all its values. I pursue my mission of vengance by supporting groups that have the right values.
Call me a fanatic, dreamer, what you will. You can even call me the Energizer Bunny because I'm pretty unstoppable and there's a fresh supply of batteries in the kitchen. And go ahead and call me crazy too. You know that's not going to stop me.
Having kids on Facebook makes me ultra-unhip if I Facebook. And adding them as a friend is a line I won't cross so they can maintain some semblance of dignity with their peers.
On the other hand, ignoring Facebook seems too out-of-touch. I'm a reactive Facebooker and, in fact, didn't put anything but my name up for a while to see if any persons noticed. I added a photo after being chided by a friend, but still have no profile.
I doubt "Brian Newby will use Facebook in 2009," while true, is a fair submission for the world-renowned Internet Evolution Prediction Fair, though. I'll come up with some real ones over there.
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