Impact of personality on Facebook usage: special reference to young Sri Lankan users

Abstract

Personality of Facebook users can be identified as the leading factor in the way they behave in the Facebook context. Current study examines the impact of personality traits on Facebook usage by considering it as features usage (status updates, comments, wall post, private messages, chat, groups and applications) and as general usage (time spends in Facebook site). This research is based on primary data collected through a self-administered questionnaire, administered to a sample of 182 undergraduates in Sri Lanka. Findings revealed that there is a significant impact of personality traits on Facebook feature usage as well as general usage. Furthermore, we found differences between personality traits for both Facebook features usage and general Facebook usage. Effects of cultural motives, values and beliefs of the groups were recognised as areas for further research.