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Your Online Profile Actually Tells a Lot About You
An anonymous reader writes "Despite all the media reports that your Facebook profile is giving the wrong impression, a psychological study shows people really can understand your personality from your online profile. Turns out you're not giving the wrong impression with your profile; you're giving the right impression to the wrong people. You can actually learn more about someone's Agreeableness from their online profile than from a first date."
The only remotely suprising thing was that women were both easier to understand and understood people better through profiles.
For me it isn't, but maybe just 'cause I'm a girl who's spent far too much time in heavily female online communities. I think it's just an extension of how people work in the real world; women, just by generally being more communicative (not being sexist so much as that's what most studies find), drop more hints, and probably 'cause they drop so many know what to look for.
open source modern art: laser taggi
It's really surprising just how much we disconnect ourselves from our many social inhibitions when communicating over the internet versus when we're actually interacting with others in public, even when we're fully aware that the internet is far less private than physically going outside to any real-world, public location. On a sub-conscious level, mere text on a screen is somehow far less threatening to us than seeing another person or hearing their voice, even though the opposite is probably more true. (Likely due to the lengthy delay in reaction to our own actions, in addition to severely limited feedback accompanying those reactions.)
Perhaps if we retired text communications in favor of real-time teleconferencing, where you actually have to see who you're talking to, you'd see people become a lot more careful about what they say and do on the internet from day to day.
8==8 Bones 8==8
to clarify my post - the difference with facebook is that you have to use your real name - which then has implications as to the types of people you make friends with (ie people who you know in real life). As to all the other online sites (flickr, last.fm, /., etc) my experience is that I might post up stuff relevant to that site, nothing more. If you're on myspace, well that probably does say something about you....
I'll see your hokum and raise you a boondoggle.
Ah, but you don't actually need to use your real name - just a given name and a surname. As an example, I used to call myself "Devoc Winter" before I deleted my account. Nothing whatsoever like my real name, so some of my real life friends did call BS at first, but quite a few of them don't use their real names either.
As you said, though, it does come down to whom you befriend on Facebook - your real life friends, your online friends or a combination.
I can tell you as an employer, we scan all the popular "social networking" sites before looking at someone as a possible employee.
Hell, that's what I'm counting on - my own personal website has a far more diversified list of my projects (as well as source code, schematics, and other bits and pieces) than you'll ever get from a resume. Of course then again it's not on some trendy "social network" site - it's my name, as a domain, that I've owned for years. I figure, if they're going to look, why not show off? (And not in the suggestive 18-25 girl sense - though being single again, I wish our recruiters would look for that sort of thing.)
That's pretty much it. I spent a great deal of my time creating fake information about me that makes me look favorable for possible employers. According to the bits and pieces you find about me online when you enter my name in a search engine I'm an accomplished freelancing game creator, writing articles for a local newspaper, who spends his spare time as a volunteer with the fire brigade, and so on.
Actually, I have written a few games but hardly anything to write about, never wrote for a paper (I was doing computer maintainence for them, which must have somehow made me an editor...) and the last time I saw a fire department from the inside was in my youth (I'm just still on their roster, despite me moving away from there about 15 years ago).
Let's be honest here, employers assume that you lie on your CV. So they start looking for other sources of information about you, the the easiest is to run your name through Google (provided you're not John Smith or similar). That they're actually using it can be seen in my mailbox.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
"people tend leave the option checked "anyone in my network" can see my profile without realizing the ramifications"
Right and the peacock unfurls its huge tail without realizing the full ramifications either.
A lot of animals do silly or risky stuff to try to show off to potential mates.
The people using facebook, myspace etc are no different.
If some grey suit doesn't hire some girl just because she or someone posted a pic of her half naked and drunk on facebook, despite her proven skills in the line of work, she's probably better off working elsewhere.
Other bosses might just hire people who'd make their company a more fun place to be in.
Now if you see that person has a big problem with alcohol (there might be other clues or signs) then sure don't hire.