The role of personality traits in shaping digital self: A mixed method approach to Instagram metrics

Self-presentation plays a pivotal role in the digital world. Social media has allowed users to decide and control how they present themselves. It has allowed users to choose a particular self-image for themselves, which may be referred to as their Digital Persona. This study intends to examine the digital self presented by individuals on social media by employing a mixed-method approach to explore the digital personas of Instagram users, which is comprised of two complementary studies. In Study 1, the qualitative data were collected from the participants’ Instagram profiles and analyzed using the content analysis method. In Study 2, the correlation between participants’ Big Five personality traits and Instagram Metrics was made. Five categories of content emerged after analysis of qualitative data. No significant correlation was found between the personality traits and Instagram Metrics, thereby, we argue that there is no relationship between offline personality traits and online self-presentation.