Is the social media persona of someone, a close and online copy of the same person in real life? It is not necessarily true. On the contrary, people tend to behave a bit differently than in real life when it comes to social media online. Many such behaviours have so far been named and quantified.
The Ultras
The ultras are the ones driving whole social media networks. They check their news feeds on social media up to a dozen times or more per day and will quite happily admit their addiction. Close to fifteen percent of Facebook users are from this category and are reported to spend more than two hours a day on that social network.
The Deniers
Deniers are ultras in disguise or in the making. They are quite active on social media but they like to maintain that social media don’t control their lives. If, however, the network goes down, they get really anxious. In a separate study it was found out that twenty percent of Facebook users will feel anxious and isolated if they have to delete their accounts.
The Dippers
The most infrequent users of social media are called the Dippers. They are the group that access their pages and profiles most infrequently, often going days and even weeks without checking or posting anything.
The Lurkers
The Lurkers are the introverts of social media and quite a significant percentage of them represent the social media. About forty-five percent of Facebook users likes to call themselves “observers”. They hide in the shadows, reading and listening to what the others are saying but rarely participate in a conversation themselves.
The Virgins
As the name suggests, the virgins are the ones who has only recently opened an account in any social media and are tentatively taking their first steps. For someone who is online and plugged in all the time, it is difficult to comprehend that as many as 19% Brits don’t use any social network. That number will only rise much higher for a country like India.
The Peacocks
The peacocks are the winners of popularity contests, the grassroot level celebrities, the so-called influencers. They have high number of fans, followers, likes and re-tweets or they aspire for them. They are one of the main drivers of content sharing in social media.
The Changelings
The changelings are the ones that have a Dr Jykell and Mr Hyde type solution to social media privacy problems. Many of them adopt completely new personality online so that no one knows their real identities. They are also called Ghosts because of the anonymous profiles they create to avoid giving out personal information to strangers.
The Approval Seeker
The approval seekers are those who constantly checks feed and timelines after posting and fret until people respond to their updates. This is a very common phenomenon since one out of every seven Facebook user finds it important for others to ‘Like’ and ‘comment’ on their posts.
