Just as what people say and do in real life tells us who they are, how they act on social media reveals their personality too.
The same underlying motivations that drive the behavior of individuals in real life are at play in the virtual world of social media.
The same underlying motivations that drive the behavior of individuals in real life are at play in the virtual world of social media.
The reasons why people share what they share on social media are numerous but when looked at via the lens of various psychological perspectives, a lot of motivations clear out from the vague haze of random posts, videos, and pictures.
These psychological perspectives are not necessarily mutually exclusive. A single social media behavior could be the result of a combination of motivations highlighted by these perspectives.
Let’s go over these perspectives one by one…
Beliefs and values
You hardly need an in-depth knowledge of human behavior to understand that people like and share stuff on social media that match their beliefs and values.
A guy who favors capitalism, for example, will often post about it. Someone who believes democracy is the ideal form of government will often post about it.
We all have a tendency to reaffirm our beliefs once we’ve formed them. The next psychological perspective explains why…
Ego boost
Our beliefs make up our various identities which in turn make up our ego. Our ego is nothing but a set of beliefs that we have about ourselves. Our ego is how we see ourselves, our image.
The reason why people reaffirm their beliefs is that it helps them maintain or boost their ego.
If I support socialism then reaffirming the awesomeness of socialism boosts my ego because when I say “Socialism is awesome”, I’m indirectly saying, “I’m awesome because I support socialism which is awesome.” (see Why we want others to like what we like)
If I support socialism then reaffirming the awesomeness of socialism boosts my ego because when I say “Socialism is awesome”, I’m indirectly saying, “I’m awesome because I support socialism which is awesome.” (see Why we want others to like what we like)
The same concept can be extended to one’s preferred political party, favorite sports team, celebrities, car and phone models, etc.
Attention craving
Sometimes what people share on social media is just an attempt to get attention.
We all have an innate need to be wanted, liked and being attended to. But, in some people, this need is exaggerated, possibly because they received little attention from their primary caregivers during childhood.
Attention-seekers post more regularly on social media to replete their ‘attention tanks’. If they feel they’re aren’t getting the attention they want they can go to great extremes to force you to pay attention by posting high shock value stuff such as gory pictures, nudity, etc.
Mate value signaling
Social media provides a great platform for men and women to flaunt their value as a suitable mate. This evolutionary psychological perspective is a powerful factor explaining why people share what they share on social media.
Since men who’re resourceful and ambitious are perceived to be ‘high value’ mates, men often share things that directly or indirectly signal these traits.
This is why you see many men sharing pictures of cars, bikes, and gadgets, even setting these as their profile pictures. Resource signaling in men also includes showing off their intelligence (via humor, for example) and occupational achievements.
Mate value in women is predominantly signaled by physical beauty.
This is why the only activity of some women on Facebook is uploading or changing their pictures.
This is also why women frequently use picturing sharing apps like Instagram that allows them to show off their beauty.
Besides beauty, women signal their mate value by displaying ‘nurturing’ behaviors.
Displaying nurturing behavior allows women to signal, “I’m a good mother and I can take good care of babies with the help of my female friends.”
Ancestral women who were nurturing and formed strong relationships with other women to gather food and raise the young together were more successful reproductively than those who did not have these traits.
Ancestral women who were nurturing and formed strong relationships with other women to gather food and raise the young together were more successful reproductively than those who did not have these traits.
This is why you see women posting pictures of them holding a cute baby, animal, teddy bear, etc. and stuff that signals how much they cherish friendships and relationships.
When it’s a woman’s best friend’s birthday, you’re likely to see her post a picture of her and her best friend together, along with something like this written in the caption…
I see today is the birthday of my sweetheart, my love, my cutie pie Maria. Oh! dear Maria! Where do I start? As soon as I got the notification about your birthday, my mind drifted to those days we spent together, all the fun that we had when we……………..and so on.
On the contrary, men’s birthday wishes rarely go any longer than, “Happy birthday bro”.
What area of your business would benefit the most from a penetration test? 
By: Chad HortonPenetration Testing ManagerCISSP, QSAPenetration testing is a form of ethical hacking that simulates attacks on a network and its systems. It goes beyond running an automated vulnerability scanner; the tests are performed by experts that dive deeper into your environment.In a previous blog post, Types of Penetration Testing: The What, The Why, and The How, we discussed the different ways a penetration test can be performed: black-box, white-box, and gray-box. We also told you why it’s a good idea for a business to have penetration tests performed regularly.So, what type of penetration test should you get for your business?
TweetWhat areas should you focus on? There are several tests or activities that penetration tests include. Here are a few you may want to consider.Network penetration test
Social engineeringThe objective of a social engineering assessment is to identify employees that do not properly authenticate individuals, follow processes, or validate potentially dangerous technologies. Any of these methods could allow an attacker to take advantage of the employee and trick them into doing something they shouldn’t.Commonly-identified issues include:Employee(s) clicked on malicious emailsEmployee(s) allowed unauthorized individuals onto the premisesEmployee(s) connected a randomly discarded USB to their workstationThe remediation is always the same: training.Because the intent of this assessment is to take advantage of the trusting nature of employees, this type of assessment should only be done after employees have completed a training course on defending against social engineering attacks.SEE ALSO: Social Engineering Training: What Your Employees Should KnowWhich type of penetration test is right for you?For starters, choose the type of penetration test that focuses on the controls you are most concerned about:Web application or API = application penetration testInfrastructure = network penetration test (and possibly a wireless penetration test)People = social engineeringIf your objective is to obtain PCI compliance, at the very least, you’ll want to consider getting a network and an application penetration test.Once you have an idea on the type of test you would like and how comprehensive you would like the results to be, you need to decide from which perspective you would like testing to be performed.By making these decisions wisely, you can choose a penetration test that matches your business’ needs and budget.Need a penetration test? Talk to us!Chad Horton has been the Penetration Testing Manager at SecurityMetrics for over five years. His responsibility includes managing a team of eight employees who conduct manual assessments of web applications and corporate networks. In addition, Horton is QSA, CISSP, and CompTIA Security+ certified, and has written numerous web application tools to assist in exploiting vulnerabilities.