Different Types of Facebook Users! Which One Are You? Image Source: 15 Minute News

Different Types of Facebook Users! Which One Are You?

If you spend a lot of time on Facebook, you’re far from alone. Around 1.28 billion people visit the all-mighty social media platform on an average day. Now that’s quite interesting, isn’t it?

Everybody uses this social media for different reasons. Some people base their sense of self-worth on how many likes they get, and others just lurk in the background, never engaging but always watching. Now, a new study out of Brigham Young has classified the different ways people behave online into four distinct types.

There are four different types of Facebook users, ranging from people who use the social network to build on real-world relationships to those focused on “likes” and attention, researchers claim.

A team at the Mormon Brigham Young University in Utah said relationship builders “respond to others’ posts and use additional Facebook features primarily in an attempt to fortify relationships that exist beyond their virtual world”. A new study labels the site’s two billion monthly shoppers, using a questionnaire with 48 statements respondents were asked to rate.

Participants rated various statements about their Facebook usage on a scale from “most like me” to “least like me”, and then underwent interviews so researchers could gain a deeper understanding of their feedback.

According to the study’s findings, your Facebook habits classify you as a relationship builder, a town crier, a selfie freak, or a window shopper. Now, let’s see which category you fall in.

Relationship Builders        

Relationship Builder. Image Source: UK Star

Relationship Builder. Image Source: UK Star

          

Relationship Builders are those who post a lot on Facebook in order to reinforce their relationships with people they know in the real world, especially their family members. Such Facebook users respond to other people’s posts and use Facebook to strengthen real-world relationships. “They use it as an extension of their real life, with their family and real-life friends” study lead author Tom Robinson says.

People who fall into this category might relate strongly to statements such as “Facebook helps me to express love to my family and lets my family express love to me.”

Town Criers

Town Criers. Image Source: Kenh14

Town Criers. Image Source: Kenh14

This kind of Facebook users experiences a larger gap between their real and virtual world. They’re less concerned with sharing posts, photos, and other details on their wall and view it more as a means of informing others of what’s going on in the news or in their day-to-day life.

Basically, it’s that friend on your friend list who shares every fresh political controversy or celebrity gossip. Town Criers don’t talk about themselves much, preferring instead to engage with the outside world and get as many of their friends engaged as well.

Selfie Freaks

Selfie Freaks. Image Source: Elle

Selfie Freaks. Image Source: Elle

Self-promotion is the main priority for this type of Facebook users. They are heavy posters of pictures, videos, and text updates mainly for attention-seeking purposes. Study co-author Kris Boyle says selfie freaks use Facebook “to present an image of themselves, whether it’s accurate or not.”

You know exactly who Selfie Freaks are on your friend list, after all, they’re constantly telling you about themselves. They thrive off of getting likes and comments.

Window Shoppers

Window Shoppers. Image Source: Phys

Window Shoppers. Image Source: Phys

These are the Facebook users who are on the platform all the time, but they never actually post anything. They generally don’t want to be seen. They feel a sense of obligation to see what their friends and associates are saying but rarely contribute themselves. They want to browse and follow along with other people’s activities, in a similar fashion to real-life person watchers.

They rarely divulge personal information, share photos, or write updates. Nor do they do much liking or commenting. Let’s say, they just like creeping around Facebook.

Facebook is a great medium for expressing yourself, but some people are just a little bit irritating, either accidentally or on purpose. They are family, you can’t unfriend them because well, as the Mafia would say, the family is family. If they are colleagues, you can’t unfriend them without looking like an antisocial outcast.

These were the four kinds of Facebook users. So which one are you? Let us know in the comments below.

 

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