Revealing the Real You: What Your Social Media Posts Say About Yourself

What does it say about your personality if you:

  • Share a burst of 25 or so Instagram stories in an hour.
  • Send cryptic tweets in the middle of the night?
  • Constantly share images of food, whether you are eating them or not?
  • Regularly post a thinly-veiled rant about someone?
  • Complain about your imperfections?
  • Stay uninvolved without announcing your presence?

What we share on social media says something about ourselves. Not everyone cares about it, but it can be intriguing enough to pique someone’s interest.

Our social media habits may have changed over time — from collecting as many “friends” as possible to culling our connections and posting random things using our timelines to posting them almost exclusively on “reels” and “stories.”

Social media plays a significant role in modern life, permeating various aspects of our daily routines and interactions. It has also revolutionized how we consume media and entertainment. Platforms like YouTube and TikTok offer a vast array of user-generated content that caters to diverse interests and preferences. Additionally, social media has become an essential tool for personal branding and self-expression, allowing individuals to curate their digital identities, showcase talents, and share their experiences and perspectives with others.

In terms of relationships, social media provides a platform for maintaining and nurturing connections, especially in long-distance relationships or with friends and family living in different parts of the world. However, social media can also present challenges, such as the potential for miscommunication, unavoidable comparison, and invasion of privacy.

You might one day review your social media timelines and the types of posts you share. I indeed did mine. I’ve posted text and visual media more frequently, many of whom I regret posting. As I spent less screen time, time on social media also shrunk on some (notably Facebook and Instagram) and gained on others (Twitter).

From personal quotes and travel photos, I’ve become muted to sharing those things in the past few years. (I am glad my wife agrees to post our travel photos.) During the age of the pandemic, sharing has been reduced almost exclusively to personal thoughts in my blog or stories of my neighborhood exploration.

Changing habits

Our social media usage may have changed, and platforms quickly pivot to remain relevant. For example, from text and photo updates on Twitter and Facebook, users have embraced visual content, hence the soaring popularity of Snapchat, Instagram, and Tiktok. The preference for real-time interaction has led to the introduction of “stories,” “reels,” and “shorts.” Of course, integration with e-commerce and advertising helps justify to shareholders the continuous investment to upgrade these platforms.

Mobile usage

As mobile devices became more prevalent, people started using social media on their smartphones and tablets, leading to a platform design and functionality shift. Social media platforms optimized their interfaces for smaller screens and developed mobile apps to provide seamless experiences. This adaptation allowed users to access social media on the go and contributed to the surge in mobile usage.

Visual content

The growing popularity of visual content, such as photos and videos, led to platforms like Instagram and Snapchat gaining prominence. Social media platforms recognized this trend and introduced features like filters, stories, and video-sharing capabilities to accommodate users’ preferences for visual communication. They also enhanced the image and video quality to cater to the evolving user demands.

Real-time interaction

Users increasingly desired real-time communication and engagement. This demand led to features like live video streaming and stories, allowing users to share moments as they unfolded. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter incorporated these features, fostering immediate and interactive communication with followers and friends.

Personalized feeds

Social media platforms updated their algorithms to curate personalized feeds based on user preferences and behavior. This has made endless scrolling of relevant, interesting feeds possible. You can scroll for hours and never feel bored because factors like post engagement, user interests, and relationships determine the content shown in users’ feeds.

E-commerce integration

The rise of e-commerce and online shopping influenced social media habits, leading platforms to integrate shopping functionalities. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest introduced features that enable users to discover and purchase products directly from their feeds. This adjustment allowed for seamless shopping experiences within the social media environment.

What your social media habits say about you

Our lives are constantly under scrutiny. Our handwriting, favorite color, or sleeping position says something about our behavior, personality, or health condition.

It’s the same with social media posts. Our cryptic posts in the middle of the night can reveal repressive behavior or hatred for someone we tend to keep to ourselves. Foodstagramming might make food more desirable even if we don’t usually enjoy them.

I know that certain perceived scholarly and credible research studies are made up, funded by groups with ulterior motives, and intended to influence people’s beliefs. So with this caveat, let’s dig into the so-called personality associations of our social media posts.

Those who post excessive selfies

Posting selfies can provide insights into an individual’s self-confidence, self-esteem, and desire for social validation. It suggests a willingness to showcase their appearance and seek attention or recognition from others. Selfies can be a personal expression, allowing individuals to communicate their personality, style, or mood. It may also indicate a desire for social interaction and connection as individuals seek engagement and feedback from their friends or followers. Selfies can be a way to document experiences, preserve memories, and contribute to personal branding or image building.

Those who get tagged often

Being tagged frequently on social media can reveal various information about a person’s social presence and relationships. It implies that the individual is active in social interactions and has a network of friends or acquaintances who frequently include them in their online activities. Being regularly tagged can imply that a person is well-connected and appreciated within their social circle, since others deem them relevant or essential enough to include in posts or events. It may also imply that the individual is involved in various activities or events that others find remarkable or worth sharing.

Those who spend too much time on social media

Spending too much time on social media can show a lot about their behavior and habits. It suggests that the person may be very dependent on or addicted to social media platforms, which could cause them to spend too much time in front of a screen and ignore other parts of their life. It could mean they want to be stimulated, validated, or escape all the time since social media provides endless information, entertainment, and social interactions. People who use social media too much may also experience feelings of loneliness, worry, or low self-esteem because they compare themselves to others or fear of missing out (FOMO).

Those who organize photos deliberately

People’s personalities and behavior can be seen in how they arrange their pictures on social media. It shows that the person cares about how things look and puts thought into how they present themselves online. By putting their views in order, they show that they pay attention to details, have a sense of order, and want to conduct themselves in a certain way. It may show their creativity if they consider the composition, theme, or story their picture arrangement tells. Also, how people purposely arrange their pictures can show that they want to express themselves since they choose to show off moments, experiences, or parts of their lives that fit with their brand or desired image.

Those who share too much about a romantic partner

Sharing too much about a love partner on social media can tell you a lot about how someone acts in relationships and how they handle them. It says that the person may have low self-esteem and a strong need to be validated, get attention, or publicly confirm their relationship. Sharing personal information about their partner can come from a need for outside approval or a desire to make their relationship look perfect. It could also mean you don’t have clear limits or tend to share too much personal information.

Those who are chasing more Facebook likes

Trying to get more Facebook “likes” can reveal some things about a person’s behavior and goals. It shows that the person cares about what other people think and wants their approval. They might care most about their online popularity and judge their worth by how many likes they get. It can show a need for attention, a desire to be liked by others, or a fear of being left out. Needless to say, it won’t uplift someone’s mood.

Those who share famous quotes

Sharing quotes on social media can offer insights into an individual’s interests, values, and desire for self-expression. It suggests that the person finds meaning or inspiration in the words of others and wants to share those sentiments with their online community. Sharing quotes can reflect a desire for personal growth, positivity, or motivation, as individuals seek to uplift and connect with others through shared wisdom or relatable messages. Or it could indirectly tell friends, “abide by these quotes because I failed to do them myself.”

As forewarned, the above should be taken with a grain of salt and accepted at your preference.

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