What does your Facebook page reveal?

Social networking fans may wish to take care when adding details to their Facebook pages as it may reveal more about them than they think, new research has suggested.

Researchers from the University of Georgia have carried out a study into whether social networking pages can provide any clues as to whether someone has a predeliction towards narcissism.

Some 130 Facebook users were given personality questionnaires and then had the contents of their profile pages analysed in order to assess the nature of their character traits.

The research, which is to be published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, found that people who have large numbers of friends whom they may not know well or at all, as well as those who choose a glamorous picture for their profile page, may well have narcissistic tendencies.

Leading author Laura Buffardi said that this correlates with real-life narcissists, who have numerous but shallow relationships.

"Narcissists might initially be seen as charming, but they end up using people for their own advantage," she warned.

However, Ms Buffardi was quick to point out that there is no evidence that Facebook users are any more narcissistic than others and that it is a normal part of most people's social interactions.

"It just turns out that narcissists are using Facebook the same way they use their other relationships – for self promotion with an emphasis on quantity of over quality," she concluded.

Social networking sites have often become a source of controversy in recent times - in January, the Daily Mail reported that Britain's youngest councillor had photos on her Facebook page that the newspaper judged unsuitable and which it argued showed her being drunk and disorderly.