The Effect of User Psychology on the Content of Social Media Posts: Originality and Transitions Matter

Abstract

Multiple studies suggest that frequencies of affective words in social media text are associated with the user's personality and mental health. In this study, we re-examine these associations by looking at the transition patterns of affect. We analyzed the content originality and affect polarity of 4,086 posts from 70 adult Facebook users contributed over 2 months. We studied posting behavior, including silent periods when the user does not post any content. Our results show that more extroverted participants tend to post positive content continuously and that more agreeable participants tend to avoid posting negative content. We also observe that participants with stronger depression symptoms posted more non-original content. We recommend that transitions of affect pattern derived from social media text and content originality should be considered in further studies on mental health, personality, and social media.