Is Your Facebook Profile Hurting You?
Here is the raw data from the Facebook Psychology Experiment I recently conducted. You can read more about the study on CBS “New Facebook Study: Is Your Facebook Profile Hurting You?:
Experiment Design
I created two Facebook profiles and had people rate their impression of each. To limit the number of variable, both profiles were for 33 year old females. One was for Jane Doe and the other for Mary Smith.
Facebook Profile for Jane Doe:
Favorite Music: Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Snoop Dog, Lil Wayne, and Ke$ha
Favorite Books: Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea, Bossypants, Love, Lust & Faking It, and I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
Favorite Movies: Sex In The City, Bridesmaids
Favorite TV Shows: Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Real Housewives of New York, Jersey Shore, Big Brother
Likes: Smirnoff, TMZ.com, Lindsay Lohan
Facebook Profile for for Mary Smith:
Favorite Music: Mozart, Beethoven, Elton John, Billy Joel
Favorite Books: The World is Flat, Economics in One Lesson, Malcolm X, Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life
Favorite Movies: Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, Cinema Paridiso
Favorite TV Shows: Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking, How it’s Made, Inside the State Department, When Rome Ruled
Likes: National Geographic Channel, Human Rights Watch, Bloomberg BusinessWeek
Experiment Results
Based on 228 responses, here are the results:
Jane Doe Results
Based solely upon what you just read, how would you rate…
1. Jane Doe’s overall level of intelligence?
Lower than average: 35.4%
Average: 63.6%
Higher than average: 1.0%
2. Do you feel her level of maturity is…
Lower than average: 65.7%
Average: 34.3%
Higher than average: 0.0%
3. How responsible do you believe she is?
Lower than average: 52.5%
Average : 47.5%
Higher than average: 0.0%
4. Would you hire this person?
Yes: 23.7%
No: 76.3%
5. What is your overall impression of Jane Doe?
Negative: 44.4%
Neutral: 52.5%
Positive: 3.0%
Mary Smith Results
Based solely upon what you just read, how would you rate
1. Mary Smith’s overall level of intelligence?
Lower than average: 1.0%
Average: 17.7%
Higher than average: 81.3%
2. Do you feel her level of maturity is…
Lower than average: 1.0%
Average: 22.9%
Higher than average: 76.0%
3. How responsible do you believe she is?
Lower than average: 1.0%
Average: 28.1%
Higher than average: 70.8%
4. Would you hire this person?
Yes: 91.6%
No: 8.4%
5. What is your overall impression of Mary Smith?
Negative: 1.0%
Neutral: 27.1%
Positive: 71.9%
The bottom line . . . people DO judge a book by its cover. What you choose to include on your Facebook or social media profile is your window into who you are. People will judge you and form opinions about you based on very limited information. Not only that, once they have these opinions, they will change their behavior as a result (e.g., hire you or not hire you). Be cautious about the impression you are making–it matters!