Facebook status signals

Co-authored with my friend Liron Shapira (Logic and Reason).

If you ask your friends what they write in their Facebook status message, they might say "I just post what I'm up to." But they don't introspect on their underlying psychology.

People are constantly thinking and feeling things, but they aren't constantly publishing status updates. Cognitive algorithms select certain kinds of posts out of the larger stream of consciousness.

Facebook status messages are a great place to observe social signaling behavior, i.e. attempts to improve others' opinions about the author's personal traits. The author might not consciously scheme about improving their social status, but their brain is evolutionarily adapted to add self-flattering payloads to innocent-seeming impulse communications.

Here is a list of actual status messages from our Facebook friends, followed by an analysis of the signaling pattern the message fits into. You might notice these patterns on your own Facebook home page.

has been hungover all day. shitty.
Gives the reader an image of the author at a party surrounded by friends. Similar status updates imply that the author is a social person.

te quiero con limon y sal.
Decoding the Spanish: "I want you with lemon and salt."
Decoding the signal: "I know Spanish. I have a circle of friends with whom to go drinking."

wonders if anyone else is scared of life after graduation, DESPITE having a job of some sort.
Everyone likes showing off, but transparent bragging is socially unacceptable. This is a typical example of combining a high-value brag with a relatively harmless display of humility or self-deprecation.

is mad that campus only has two food places and they're BOTH closed -_-. i'm HUNGRYYYYYYYYYYY!
1. Implies that the author had the self control to resist their hunger (a common signal among girls, given the prevalence of dieting)
2. Implies that the author has a busy life working toward goals that are loftier than eating
3. Demonstrates an assumption that the author's whims are of concern to Facebook users

still finds this stress-freeness to be so foreign!
It's common for people to communicate that they're used to a high stress level. The reader imagines a fulfilling, interesting life full of friends and accomplishments.

i just died in your arms tonight... must have been something she said... i don't remember the rest of the lyrics
Posting lyrics to a song shows that you're someone who can have a social mind-set. In other words, this person might be fun to hang out or party with.

Even Stevens is the greatest TV show ever.
Proclaiming that the author enjoys something that isn't designed for his or her demographic signals that they're a different, non-conforming individual.

omg last minute packing blows
People write this one a lot because it directly implies they're going somewhere or, in other words, they have an interesting life.

Chart

The Riddle Graph