KU researchers study Facebook users, personality traits

In what will come as small surprise to regular Facebook users, research shows that people using the site can figure out some personality traits of strangers by looking at their posts and other activity.

Researchers at the University of Kansas, including associate professor of communication studies Jeffrey Hall, asked 100 users of the social media site to fill out a personality survey, according to a prepared statement from KU.

They then assigned coders to study their Facebook activity, and also asked 35 strangers to study the posts and activities of the 100 people surveyed, the statement said.

Some traits (neuroticism, for example) were not found to be easily identifiable, the research found. But it is apparently easy to pick up on whether someone is an extrovert, is agreeable or open, the statement said.

Facebook made changes in 2011, making some site activities by “friends” less visible, the KU statement said; so it might not be as easy now to detect traits.

In fact, the researchers said in the KU statement, it could lead to wrong impressions, because an “agreeable” person tends to post less often, an “open” person is less likely to respond to other people’s posts – while making more political status updates; and a “conscientious” person agrees more often with what other people post, the KU statement said.

This story was originally published September 15, 2014 at 9:35 AM with the headline "KU researchers study Facebook users, personality traits."