Abstract: Humans need to feel loved, respected and part of a group. They want to influence how they are perceived by others. Therefore, they are motivated to manipulate the information they share. Online, they can easily hide features that might detriment the self. Likewise, they can enhance positive ones. There are many media articles on how to become famous on social networks. Some people became famous due to self-promoting.

But how much can self disclosure boost one’s popularity on Facebook?

There is a lack of scientific research on this topic. Thus, I developed an experiment on a public Facebook profile. Friends and followers were participants. During 8 weeks,  I posted various types of content. i compared personal, news, entertaining and educational content. I analyzed the number of likes, comments and shares generated. The highest number of reactions determined the performance of a specific type of content. Furthermore, I considered the nature of reactions (positive/ negative).

As a result, the experiment partially confirmed my hypothesis. I found that self-praising posts score higher for positive reactions generated. In contrast, this relation does not apply to negative emotions and shares.

Keywords: social network sites, self-disclosure, self-promoting, Facebook, fame