What’s Your Social Media Personality?

First of all, a clarification… By “social media” here, I
mean “Facebook.” That’s because, as I’ve
said many times, it’s the social media platform for the “Everyman and
Everywoman.” With over 1.1 billion (yes, billion) users, Facebook is fairly
ubiquitous. Along with that kind of
omnipresence, comes the fact that you have both the initiated and the uninitiated
user making his/her her way through there, leading to a wide, but fairly
predictable range of “personalities” one will see in his/her newsfeed at any
given moment (certainly dependent on the choice of Facebook friends).

To be fair, personality differences are evident on the other
social media platforms as well. It’s just that they, by design, are more subtle.
Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and Instagram are the platforms I’m addressing. They tend to
be populated by the more erudite and sophisticated social media users who are
more likely to adhere to the social “norms” on these sites. That leads to a
narrower band of personality deviation as their users stay “inside the lines,”
or risk being branded as plebian and unknowledgeable. To a lot of Google + users, Facebook is the
“Land of the Unwashed Masses.” To that end, because the typical “Facebooker”
isn’t into the vagaries of social media propriety and boundaries, that
personalities are more evident – the main reason many Google +’ers abandon
Facebook altogether.

So, without further fanfare, these are the predominant distinct
personalities I’ve seen, witnessed, and engaged on Facebook (social media). This
list is NOT all-inclusive. Note that I am NOT judging any of these or saying
what’s good or what’s bad. They just ARE :

The Life Chronicaler – The person who tells you what they’re
doing at any given time, what they didn’t or can’t do because of the weather, a
backache, or because they’re tired. They will also tell everyone “goodnight”
before retiring.

The Comedian – The person who’s always quick with a joke. They
have a retort, a funny witticism, a funny video.

The “Hey, I’m Just Here To Keep Up with My Friends and Family” – This is the official “Facebook Fall-Back Position. After all, that IS why we’re there, right?

The Spammer – The person who makes you think their account’s
been hacked because there’s always an ad for purses, athletic shoes, or some
other item. Note: these are usually bots or phony accounts.

The Cam Girl – Usually from
another country, they friend mostly guys and other Can Girls. They post
suggestive or downright explicit pictures and try to get these men to go to
their sites and “vote” for them.

The Network Marketer – They are the go-to for a particular
product. Their walls are replete with pictures of them winning awards, at
seminars, before-afters of people, posts telling you how you can supplement
your income, and invitations to seminars and meetings.

The Business – This is the account known as the name of the
business only and interacts as if it’s a “person” with its friends. A select
group of “insiders” know the true identity of the account-holder.

The Politico – This person posts incessantly about partisan
politics. Need I say more?

The Bon Vivant – The partier… Pictures abound of the latest
party or event they went to. Several posts appear on their wall of people
telling them what a good t time they all had at the latest soirée.

The Traveler – From Amsterdam
to Moscow… Back
to NYC, then across to Honolulu.
They take you with them virtually with great stories and stunning pics.

The
Social Media/Business Conglomerate – They have LOTS of Facebook friends,
Twitter followers, Google +, and LinkedIn connections, and are all over all the
other platforms. Their posts are aimed at THE WORLD, and are of general nature,
with little personal information given out.

Not
many of us are exclusively one personality. We sometimes exhibit facets of other
of these listed above. One does predominate, however.