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This Is What Your Facebook Profile Really Says About You

3 minute read

This post is in partnership with The Muse. The article below was originally published on The Muse.

You probably know by now that most of us are putting a lot about ourselves on the internet (arguably, too much). So when it comes to the job search, hiring managers can do a quick Google search, check out your social profiles, and learn a good deal about you.

But did you know they might be able to find out more than where you went on your last vacation and what your favorite TV show is? In fact, with a new tool from Five Labs, they may be able to learn big things about your personality with the help of your Facebook profile.

Using the Big Five personality model, the Five Labs Facebook analyzer scans you and your friends’ posts and analyzes the type of language you use. It then measures how much you exhibit each of five personality traits: agreeableness (how cooperative and trusting you are), neuroticism (how easily you experience unpleasant emotions), conscientiousness (how dependable you are), extraversion (how socially energetic you are), and openness (how intellectually curious you are).

With the click of a button, the tool will analyze your posts and give you your profile. You can then click to learn a bit more about each trait, which words are associated with it, and even compare yourself to Facebook friends who have had their profiles analyzed or public figures.

For now, it’s just a fun distraction, but arguably not really a valuable tool (yet). For starters, there are questions about whether how you present yourself online is really representative of your offline personality; for example, my extraversion score was much higher than I am in real life, simply because a large bulk of my posts are centered around my friends.

Also, only people you are Facebook friends with can view your profile, so in theoryhiring managers wouldn’t be able to use it to judge potential candidates. But that doesn’t mean that couldn’t change in the near future—and that this tool doesn’t have implications for how companies will soon use all the information available about you on the web to help determine how you would fit as an employee.

Until then, have fun seeing how your online personality compares to the likes of Mark Zuckerburg and Barak Obama. Oh, and make sure to clean up your Facebook page (try this nifty tool for doing it quickly)—after all, hiring managerscan still see that.

About the author:

As an Editor at The Daily Muse, Erin has an unhealthy adoration of taking sentences and making them shine. In her search to figure out what she wanted to do with her life, Erin journeyed to the Galapagos to try her hand at environmental filmmaking, jetted to Copenhagen to study Urban Design, and spent hours in the kitchen contemplating quitting it all for culinary school. Follow her continued adventures on Twitter @erinaceously.

Read more from The Muse:

What to Do When You’re Just Not That Into an Idea Anymore

The Best Ways to be Productive When Your Energy is Gone

What Your Facebook Profile Says About Your Personality

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