Abstract
In previous years, numerous research efforts have been focused on investigating the relationship between personality and social media use. In our study, we tested if being an extravert affected the amount of time spent on social media. The results of our study show that males and females do not differ in their social media usage however shows there is a correlation between females’ personality score and their social media use. Users present themselves differently to one another on social media, which moreover reflects this difference in demographic and psychological traits. The evolution of social media is increasingly opening more opportunities for different types of people to interact, depending on their personalities, therefore this study attempts to provide the reasons for this.
Introduction
Social media can be widely defined as “websites and applications that allow users to manage their social relationships as well as their social individuality” (Riva et al, 2016). The evolution of social media is increasingly opening more opportunities for people to interact, for example the global social media research summary survey (2018) suggests that the number of social media users in 2018 is 3.196 billion and is increasing by 13% year on year. This use varies depending on the type and range of people who use it, including factors such as one’s sex and their personality traits. Many studies have used large data sets in order to investigate behaviours such as personality in relation to social media use. For example, Schwartz et al (2013) analysed 700 million words, phrases, and topics collected from 75,000 Facebook volunteers, who also took personality tests, finding many variations in their results in the ways that people presented themselves. This implies personality has a major influence on this relationship with social media usage and the presentation of one’s self. Personality based studies have also found positive correlations between extraversion personality traits and social media usage. For example, since Facebook introduced an instant messaging application, extraversion has been positively correlated with social media use (Amichai-Hamburger & Vinitzky, 2010).
The development of the ‘Big 5’ framework has emphasized the relationship between one’s personality traits and their social media usage. This model suggests that individuals vary in terms of personality factors (extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness) which we have measured. Siedman (2013) found that extraverts tend to use Facebook to communicate more frequently and have more online friends accentuating the relationship between individual’s personality traits and social media use. This has been supported by Survey data from a national sample of U.S. adults which shows that more extraverted people and those who have openness to experience, are more likely to use social networking sites (SNS) in the first place. In addition, with millions of users worldwide, it promotes the query as to what types of people rely on social media tools in their interactions with others, furthermore being an importance research base. SNS are additionally used as a platform in some educational systems (Mccarroll & Curran, 2013) inferring that there are positive real-life implications to using social media. Other implications include allowing people to promote themselves and gain fame through their online SNS profiles as well as offering opportunities for ordinary people to interact with others, strengthening their relationships (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008). The Big 5 taxonomy signifies the distinct categories of personality and brings it together in one framework, to make the classification of it simpler. It also suggests If there are positive or negative implications that are associated with personality. (John & Srivastava,1999).
Gender differences also have an impact on the amount of social media use as shown from previous studies. It has been suggested that girls on average spend more time on SNS’s such as Facebook and use them more actively than boys do (Nadkarni & Hoffman, 2012). However, the way in which they use SNS’s also differs. According to ‘Social roles theory’ gender differences in social media can be understood by how males and females are perceived to act in everyday life. For example, women are expected to be more dependent on others than males are. Therefore, this may be an indicator as to why females are more drawn to SNS to communicate and maintain interpersonal relationships with compared to males (Eagly & Wood, 2012).
The main objective of this study was to examine whether there was a relationship between social media usage depending on different factors such as the gender of the undergraduate students as well as personality factors such as extraversion. On the basis of this we came up with the following hypotheses:
H1: There will be no significant difference in total social media usage score between male and female undergraduate students.
H2: There will be a significant relationship between extroversion and total social media usage score.
Method
Participants:
There was a total of 257 participant (M=47; F=210). However, due to incomplete data sets, 75 participants were excluded leaving 36 male undergraduate students and 146 female undergraduate students. Female students were therefore slightly overrepresented compared to the males in the study. These participants were approached in the lecture by the experimenter and asked to fill out a survey due to course requirements.
Design:
In this particular study, we used an independent groups design and participants answered the same survey, so we could compare and therefore make generalisations about the results as a whole. The amount of time spent on social media served as our dependent variable. The gender of the undergraduate’s and whether or not they were extraverted acted as our independent variables, influencing the amount of time spent on social media and moreover their social presence.
Materials:
A multiple-choice survey was given to all participants in order to assess if there was a relationship between personality and social media usage. It included psychological questions to do with personality and questions to do with social media use. We also collected demographic information about the sample including their gender in order to support/ disprove our first hypothesis (full questionnaire can be seen in Appendix- figures 1- 7). The survey was done online therefore a device to access the internet was needed. Our instrument correspondingly included the types of social media most commonly used and the time spent on them in order to gain a more complete understanding of the social phenomena. The survey was a combination of the Facebook intensity scale and the Big 5 inventory which was used to measure personality. These are self-report methods designed to measure the Big 5 dimensions of personality. (John, O.P., & Srivastava, S. 1999)
Procedure:
All psychology undergraduate students were welcomed into the hall and given instructions on what to do as well as a short description of the study. This included information about confidentiality and a link to the survey shown by the experimenter. They were also assured that they had the right to withdrawal themselves and their results at any time if they felt necessary, as well as being guaranteed that their results would remain anonymous. Once they had accessed the survey, they were asked to fill it out in the lecture hall, moving through questions 1 to 10. This online survey consisted of questions of personality and the amount of time people spent on social media. They were asked to fill out the questions as honestly as possible. This process was compulsory due to course requirements. The procedure took approximately 30 minutes. After the survey had been completed, we debriefed the participants on what the information was going to be used for. Finally, we answered any questions to ensure all participants were satisfied with the process.
Results:
In order to examine the first hypothesis, the mean total social media usage score was examined for both male and female undergraduates. There was no significant difference in the social media usage scores for male undergraduate students (n=36, M=93.13, SD=12.56) and female undergraduate students (n=146, M=89.37, SD=11.56). An independent t-test was conducted, t (180) =1.72, p=.087. (see Appendix * for raw SPSS output- Figure 8)
In order to explore the second hypothesis a Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (Pearson’s r) was used to assess the relationship between a person’s personality and their social media usage. There was a negative correlation for female undergraduate students between social media usage and extroversion r=-.170, n=146, p=0.40. Overall, there was a medium negative correlation at the 0.05 significance level. (See Appendix * for SPSS raw data output- Figure 9).
There were no significant correlations between social media usage and agreeableness (r=-0.77, n=146, p=.355); Conscientiousness (r=-0.57, n=146, p=.493); Neuroticism (r=.137, n=146, p=0.98) or openness (r=-0.59, n=146, p=.480).
There were no positive or negative correlations for male undergraduate students on any of the personality measures in relation to social media usage. Extroversion r=.115, n=36, p=.503; Agreeableness r=.003, n=36, p=.984; Conscientiousness r=0.55, n=36, p=.751; Neuroticism r=.323, n=36, p=.54; Openness r=-.243, n=36, p=.154. Results are discussed in relation to the hypotheses and previous literature surrounding social media usage and personality.
Discussion:
Going back to our research question, we can now propose that there is no significant difference for the social media use between males and females, even though our sample of males is low. We can therefore make generalisations to the wider population. The lack of difference between the males and the female groups suggest that social media appeals to all types of people and does not exclude groups based on their sex. The T-test scores for both males and females show little variation, supporting this.
The purpose of our study was to examine whether personality affected social media use. There may have been a negative correlation (shown from the Pearson’s r) between female undergraduate participants because the less extroverted they were, meant they preferred to be anonymous and used social media to assist them with this. Previous research found that the anonymity provided by the internet attracted people who were less comfortable with themselves and who would have more trouble connecting with others. These people relied on social media to reduce their loneliness (Hamburger & Ben-Artzi, 2003). Controversially, more recent research on this matter has found that more extraverted people tend to be drawn to social media hence this could be due to anonymity not being present in most popular media use furthermore using it to expand their already present group of friends (Jones 2009).
There are a few issues with this survey, one being that it may be bias due to participants not providing 100% honest answers and instead offering socially desirable ones. For example, longing to be seen as more extraverted than they actually are. The number of male respondents is also very low suggesting it may not be an accurate representation of undergraduate students as a whole moreover the fact it was only done on undergraduate students limits our ability to generalise to the population as a whole. Because a one-time survey was used, we are also unable to establish causality. Some personality trait measures such as survey’s, do not fully explain the individual characteristics associated with social media use (Moore & McElroy, 2011), therefore not providing a complete understanding of the topic as a whole. In order to address these concerns, future research should use multiple methodologies such as using longitudinal data and following participants for a period of time.
Overall, this has shown that personality traits of individuals do affect their social media usage however in different ways. Extraverts are defined as having a high social need and aim to extend their social network (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975). In terms of gender, the results show no difference however previous research has found that women tend to spend more time on social media due to factors such as maintaining friendships more so than men (Di Leonardo, 1987). The results we have found support both our hypotheses to an extent however further research needs to be done in order for it to be accurate.