Who are you on social media?

The trend of individuals creating different profile on various social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn stems from the desire to fit within the distinctive culture or etiquette of each site, say researchers, including the one of Indianorigin.

The findings show that users aren’t modifying their profile, but subconsciously adapting the behaviour modelled to fit in.“Despite our efforts, we still fit in the stereotypes of gender and age in the way we tailor our persona,” says Nishanth Sastry, senior lecturer at King’s College London.

For instance, a photo of someone holding a mug of a coffee brand may be popular on Instagram, but the same image post on LinkedIn would be frowned upon. “The users tend to portray themselves differently in these different worlds,” adds Dongwon Lee, Associate Professor at the Pennsylvania State University.

For the research, the team compiled data on over 100,000 social media users by utilising a reputable site that acts as a reliable social media directory, where the users volunteer their own profiles. Upon analysing the profile pictures and biography information of the users, the team found differences in how different demographics portray themselves.

The results showed that women were less likely to wear corrective eyewear, such as reading glasses, in their profile pictures and users under the age of 25 were less likely to be smiling in their profile pictures.

“The social media consume a large portion of our lives. So, understanding how we interact with each other on the medium is important to understanding who we are in the online world,” Sastry adds.

PHOTO: ISTOCK