Ó yr2kc9 Your online self Look at this profile image and discuss the questions. 1 What aspect of her personality do you think she wants to show? 2 What kind of images do you upload to represent yourself? How do you choose them and how often do you change them? 3 Do you have an online page? Do you regularly update it or comment on other people’s? 4 Do you think these pages generally portray an accurate impression of people’s character? Read the article. Does it have similar views to yours? Speaking 1 Reading 2 a In 2015 social networking sites such as Facebook, Xing and LinkedIn were estimated to have around 1.5 billion users worldwide. By February 2021, Facebook alone had grown to 2.74 billion active users. LinkedIn was nowhere near that with user numbers around 756 million, and Xing had a mere 16 million users mostly in German language countries. As users can create any profile of themselves they choose, you might expect them to portray themselves in the best possible light. When putting up a profile, it would be reasonable for them to present flattering images, choose sophisticated and discerning interests, and carefully express their thoughts so as to appear more intelligent than in real life. But according to research, this is not the case. Far from presenting themselves in a flattering way, most users’ profiles reflect their true personalities and reveal both psychological weaknesses and natural physical flaws. Research was carried out on 250 Facebook users who filled in a personality questionnaire. Results were compared with the same people’s Facebook profiles. The survey set out to assess not only the participants’ actual personality, but their ‘ideal’ personality – in other words, what kind of person they would be if they actually possessed all their ideal characteristics. These results were then compared with the participants’ Facebook profiles. What emerged was astonishing: far from being idealised versions of themselves, people’s online profiles conformed closely to what they were really like. Their profiles accurately reflected how agreeable, extroverted, conscientious, neurotic and sociable they were in real life. It’s not entirely clear why online profiles depict users’ personalities so accurately. It could be that users want to portray themselves as they really are, or it could be that people attempt to present an ideal image of themselves but in fact fail to do so. One thing seems clear: social networking sites can in no way be considered a false online world that is idealised and removed from reality; rather, they are simply another way in which people choose to interact with each other. 152 12 Unit Me and the world conduct a job interview talk about future plans write a letter of application Goals talk about personality traits talk about identity promote myself use effective introduction strategies Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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