Now this is a new one: Having many Facebook connections could mean you are a narcissist, according to Lauren Buffardi, a University of Georgia graduate student and lead author of a study that will be published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin next month.
The story was recently published on ABC News .
Buffardi has studied 130 Facebook users and found that while most are great at initial impressions and friend-making, they don’t often keep up with all the friends they make.
“By surveying 130 Facebook users, analyzing their pages and asking untrained strangers to assess the users’ pages, Buffardi and associate professor W. Keith Campbell found that the number of Facebook friends and wall posts that people have on their profile pages correlates with narcissism.”
I guess that’s one way to look at self promotion, which is all anyone is doing on social sites regardless of their motives. For marketers, it is about letting people know who you are and what your expertise is. According to my untrained background in psychology, that could mean a person’s resume could also be described as narcissistic as well.
Check out Scott Bradley in both of our Webside Chats to determine if he sounds like a self-loving individual or simply a networker doing a good job.
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If I remember correctly…I believe you called Scott a virus, not a narcissist! lol
From my experience online, marketers are not the only self promoters…Heck, wouldn’t you consider Journalist wannabe’s Narcissistic?
By definition, someone’s profile page is about them, so does that mean everyone on Facebook or similar sites is a narcissist?
Chris Lockwoods last blog post..Meet me in Atlanta?
The hilarious thing about this article ABC wrote is that they didn’t even use HALF of the stuff I gave them.
@Scott Bradley: Usually the good stuff ends up on the ‘cutting room floor.’ Besides I don’t think mainstream journalism truly understands the impact online social networking is having. How it is and has revolutionized worldwide communication in an instant. I notice that TV news is very reactive…always behind the 8 ball.
TeasasTipss last blog post..The Truth About Network Marketing
@TeasasTips Totally agree with you. Thanks for your insight!
Scott Bradleys last blog post..Are People with alot of “Friends” on Facebook Narcissists?
@ TeasasTips
I think you are very right, it is like they are always behind the 8ball, maybe here in the next few years, more of the influential or socially active journalists will be able to influence mainstream media and show them the true benefits of social media and social networking.
@Scott Bradley
Don’t let this deter you from using the media just the same as they are using you. They can certainly be beneficial.
@Chris Lockwood
It sure seems they think that is the case, yet, I found another article in Inc (this new issue) that states that Gen Y is considered Narcissistic anyway. I think there is too much name calling and not enough positive praise for the usefulness of these types of sites.
Anissas last blog post..If You Are A Narcissist And Need Publicity…
I just read the above comments and couldn’t help but notice just how ingrained social media is becoming, some of the replies start with @ followed by the persons name…it’s the Twitter effect!
I used to be a member of a social media marketing program, they advocated friending every member of the program on sites like myspace and facebook which I dutifully did and then after that I thought…OK…what happens now?
I had loads of friends but this didn’t help me at all because these friends weren’t involved in my niche in any way. It was as useless as buying untargeted traffic from Google Adwords. What I didn’t realise was that having hundreds or thousands of friends doesn’t serve any useful purpose in my opinion unless I could target them properly. I’ve since learned that this is possible on sites like myspace and facebook by joining communities and groups within my niche and adding value to the conversations that are taking place. The other thing is, you have to make a time commitment to these social media networks but with hundreds of these kind of sites it’s impossible (unless you have the resources) to keep up with it all and make regular contributions. It’s better to concentrate on a handful of sites and build your reputation from the ground up.
John O’Hara
United Kingdom
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