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Facebook profiles are routinely viewed and judged by others. We examined the categories of information that are utilized by observers and we tested the predictive validity of personality ratings based on Facebook Info pages. Raters made personality judgments of target individuals, either based on full Facebook Info pages or single categories of information (e.g., profile picture, interests, music preferences, etc.). Personality ratings for the Info pages were most highly correlated with ratings of profile pictures, followed by shared quotes and interests. Regression analyses showed that pictures and shared self-descriptive preferences independently contributed to impressions of Info pages. Stranger ratings of Info pages more strongly predicted online than everyday behavior.
Ivčević et al. (Sun,) studied this question.