You are what you post in “circle of friends” of WeChat: Self-presentation and identity production from a personality perspective

Abstract

Social media services have become increasingly important in Chinese people’s daily lives, and among them, WeChat is one of the most popular applications. There have been studies examining individuals’ practices of self-presentation and identity production in various online platforms, and they have found the impact of anonymity on users’ presentation and construction of self. However, little is known about whether users present their actual self or construct new identities different from those in their offline life. To fill this gap, this study explores the association between expression of personality traits on circle of friends and their actual personality traits in offline life. Participants were 93 college students from China. Their personality traits were measured through Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Five-Factor Inventory, and their posts on circle of friends platform were extracted and split into words by Chinese Lexical Analysis System. The results showed consistency in the dimension of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness, except for neuroticism, suggesting that the contents posted on circle of friends platform can reflect the user’s real personality traits. As an instrumental tool developed in this study, the semantic cues were further discussed regarding its usefulness in evaluating subjects’ personality traits.