At some point in your life you have probably taken one of those personality tests. The tests can give one a great deal of insight about the core components that make up who you are as well as help you  understand  how and why you relate to other people. The two major types of people that personality tests can help identify are introverts and extroverts

Extroverts are typically the outgoing and socially confident people. They are often described as talkative, sociable, action oriented, enthusiastic and friendly. They are the cool kids who everyone wants to hang out and be associated with. Extroverted people have connections with others both via social networking sites and in the real world.

Introverts on the other hand are perceived as the shy and reserved people. They enjoy spending time alone and don’t feel comfortable in large crowds.  They tend to feel drained after socializing and have to isolate themselves from people to recharge their social batteries.

Introverts tend to get a bad reputation when it comes to their online engagements. They are considered people-hating weirdo’s or antisocial by people who do not understand the mindset of introverts. This is especially so in our current digital age where it’s tricky and damaging not to be active on social media. Today people share everything about themselves online and for introverts who value privacy and staying out of the spot light this can make them uncomfortable, increasing their social anxiety.

While introverts are not usually interested in what others think, the current digital age compels them to demand interactions from as many people as possible. That’s why it’s not surprising to find that many introverted individuals have social media accounts even though they consider it a sad fact, a soul slitting performance that portrays the false version of themselves (by appearing social when they aren’t).

The ubiquity of social media makes introverts engage in practices that are not only alien to them but overwhelming. Thus you may find that introverts have a totally different way of using social media. They are not going to be the people who like everything on your Facebook page; they are actually the people you get surprised to hear from.

They may be online perusing feeds and only respond to items that resonates with them the most. The rest of the time they are just reading and absorbing information to help them navigate social encounters because it gives them something to know which helps reduce stress in establishing relationships.

You may be wondering why introverts are on social media if it makes them uncomfortable, well it’s for the same reason extroverts are; to socialize and connect. They are not antisocial as is the popular misconception. Rather they are social in very controlled ways.

Here is how to spot an Introvert on your social media platforms

Short friend list

An introvert online is also an introvert offline. When it comes to their personal platforms like Facebook pages, the numbers of their online friends are usually low. This is because they only accept or befriend only people they personally know.  It’s not that they are cold or uncaring; they would rather focus their time and energy on close friends rather than the expansive group of acquaintances.

Their online profiles are usually private

Many introverts tend to change the privacy settings of their online platforms to suit their privacy needs.  Be it Facebook, Twitter or WhatsApp they are constantly making sure that only their friends can see anything they post online.  They are also usually very shy about joining public forums and groups on social media because by doing so; they provide an avenue for strangers to friend request them.

Care very little about social media validation

When an introvert posts online which is mostly infrequent they don’t do it for the Likes, or retweets like extroverts. They mostly just share so that anyone interested in their life can have a glimpse. Sometimes they may go hours or days on end without responding to comments on their posts. Some of them even get anxious and irritated when people comment on their posts.

High probability of unfriending or unfollowing people from their social media accounts

Sometimes they may accept friend requests or follows from strangers hopping to forge a connection. However when they find that there isn’t any real connection between them and never actually interact or communicate chances are that they are going to delete you from their list or ghost you out.

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