The Influence of personality traits on the Facebook Addiction

Abstract

Many empirical studies indicate that SNS use has increased substantially over the last few years. People use SNSs for social purposes, mostly related to the maintenance of existing offline contacts. Such usage may have led to compulsive use of SNSs resulting in addictive behavior. This paper aims to explore factors affecting SNS addiction. Specifically, the study examined the role of personality traits in the Facebook usage among college students. Compared to the rest of world, daily log on the site has grown very quickly in South Korea. And college students constitute a vast majority of Facebook users in South Korea. Results from a survey of 235 college students revealed that extraversion and neuroticism positively predicted Facebook usage. Students who were high in extraversion were more likely to update their profiles, share photo and images with others and give feedback on other's posts. Similarly, those who were high in neuroticism were more likely to share photo and images with others and update their profiles. These findings support previous research. Furthermore, in terms of the effect of personality on SNS addiction, this study found that consciousness was negatively associated with Facebook addiction, while extraversion and neuroticism were positively associated with Facebook addiction. Based on these findings implications and directions for futures studies are discussed.