A lot can be learned about someone by looking at his or her Facebook profile. But people may not realize they’re saying a lot more about themselves than their favorite music and movies. A recent study conducted at the University of Georgia found that narcissism is reflected in the profiles people post on Facebook and other comparable social networking Web sites.Through looking at someone’s profile, all there is to learn about them is what they type in the respective boxes. There is no chance for the person to add more details about themselves or explain the things they’ve written. They only get one shot, so it better be good. Because of this one-dimensional aspect of Facebook and other personal profile Web sites, people try to put their best self out there for the world to see. People purposefully put what they think are the most interesting aspects of their lives in their profiles to make them look “cool” to their profile viewers.In the study, 129 students voluntarily took a personality test that detected narcissistic tendencies. The students then opened their Facebook profiles, and the researchers removed personal identifying information from their pages. Objective measures of the profile, such as number of friends, groups, wall posts and the length of the person’s “About Me” section, were made. Research assistants each rated the contents of the “About Me” and quote sections of the profile, as well as photos associated with the accounts.Researchers found that the quantity of social connections a user had correlated strongly with his or her narcissism. People with more friends, more groups and more wall posts tended to be more narcissistic. Pictures associated with the accounts also showed strong connections with narcissism. Narcissists’ photos had strong elements of self-promotion and most pictures made the owner look as attractive as possible. Researchers then studied how other Facebook users viewed the same profiles. About 130 students rated each profile in terms of the narcissism of its owner and then rated specific features that the earlier analysis recognized. The narcissists were fairly easy to spot because the students’ ratings largely agreed with what the researchers found.    Study leader Laura Buffardi, doctoral candidate in psychology, said this is similar to how narcissists behave in real life, forming numerous but shallow relationships with others. Just as on Facebook, narcissists are concerned with the quantity of social connections they have, not the quality. Jeff Lawley, assistant professor of psychology at Louisiana State University-Shreveport, said he is skeptical about the narcissism of users of Facebook and its complement Web sites.Lawley said he agrees with the facts of the study, but he feels that narcissism may not be as widespread as suggested.He said instead of meeting someone in person and learning more and more about them through time, meeting someone through Facebook brings you right to the center of the person. “This could certainly feel like narcissism to a world that is adjusting to a completely new type of social interaction where traditional social rules don’t necessarily apply in a lot of ways,” Lawley said.Dr. Chris Garner, psychologist at the University’s Health Center, said the Internet is one of the easiest ways for narcissists to promote themselves.”There is an extra attraction on Facebook or MySpace because they can have their own page, and they can promote themselves pretty freely without a mutual give and take or any kind of censorship,” he said.  Garner said these factors make Facebook and other personal profiles a magnet for people with narcissistic tendencies, but true narcissists will use any medium possible to get their message across. The research team said it didn’t think it would be appropriate to claim they have developed “a valid narcissism diagnostic tool that would work for individual assessments.”But by looking at the results of the study, people can compare the statistics of their Facebook profiles with the averages found in the study to estimate their narcissistic tendencies. The average number of friends per user in the study was 171. The average number of groups a user belonged to was 35. The average “About Me” section consisted of five lines, and the average number of wall posts was 480. Laken Lemoine, kinesiology sophomore, said she has seen narcissistic evidence in people’s profiles on Facebook.”They only put cute pictures of themselves, they have a bunch of friends and they’re always on Facebook trying to make themselves look cool,” Lemoine said. Lemoine said she has probably seen these tendencies in her friends’ Facebook profiles but not in her own. The only thing she said she was guilty of is “un-tagging” unwanted pictures of herself. – – – -Contact Victoria Toups at [email protected]