Keyboard warriors: Personality types of online commenters examined in new study

Updated

A study to establish which personality types are more likely to believe their views on the news are worth sharing will be conducted by academics from the University of the Sunshine Coast.

The study, led by journalism lecturer Dr Renee Barnes and psychologist Professor Doug Mahar, will ask people who regularly read news sites questions about their commenting behaviours.

Commenters will be asked how frequently they visit news sites, what prompts them to comment on a story and whether they like to stay anonymous.

Do you comment on online news sites? Take the personality survey.

"[In the] second part of the survey we are asking people, if they would like to, to provide us with their usernames and the websites they regularly comment on," Dr Barnes said.

"Then we are going to go and look at their comments so we can match that up with how they're testing in their personality."

Dr Barnes said a number of factors led people to comment on news stories or take part in aggressive 'keyboard warrior' discussions with other users.

"People who aren't frequent commenters, when they do comment it is because there's something particular in the story that really resonates with them," she said.

"They might feel they have personal information on that story, or some sort of expertise.

"Sometimes it's because people feel a particular relationship with a journalist.

"Some people comment because of other commenters. They'll read something someone else has said and either really agree with it or really disagree with it, and it will make them want to comment."

Personality traits influence the need for anonymity online: research

Dr Barnes said the goal of the research was to examine whether certain comments were linked to extroverted personalities or anonymous profiles.

The survey will also examine which personalities are more likely to leave repeated comments, converse with other commenters, or take part in trolling behaviour.

Someone who is more naturally introverted in day-to-day social interaction might really enjoy the online environment because they can have that anonymity. Dr Renee Barnes

"Someone who is more naturally introverted in day-to-day social interaction might really enjoy the online environment because they can have that anonymity," Dr Barnes said.

"It is about getting people involved in discussion and debate about news. I think everyone would agree it is a really valuable thing, but it is about understanding how we can ensure lots of people are involved in quality discussion."

Professor Mahar said previous research had shown the most common personality traits displayed by online commenters on general websites include extraversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness and narcissism.

He said the survey would determine whether any of those traits were more common on news sites compared to other sites.

Topics: science-and-technology, social-media, internet-culture, human-interest, australia, qld

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