Study shows people lie on Twitter

An online study conducted by Opinium Research in the UK has hailed social networking sites as a revolution in communication but says most people are not straightforward when chatting on social networks and by text messaging.

The study was commissioned by UK-based Insurance Group, Direct Line, and the researcher carried out an online poll of 2,012 British adults from June 3 to 7, 2010.

The ‘Straight Talking Report’ found that people are more likely to be dishonest when chatting, using technology, such as Twitter, than they would be face to face.

The report says just one in five people (20%) profess to being more truthful on Twitter or text, compared to a third (31%) who state that they are more frank when speaking to someone in the flesh.

The study also showed that women are more honest on social networks and text than men, as 17% of men say they are likely to be honest, compared with 21% of women.

On the contrary, the study showed that men are more honest in face to face communication than women are, with 12% more men claiming to be honest face to face than women.

Psychologist Glenn Wilson says people sometimes use social networking, smartphones and text messaging as means of communication rather than a face-to-face encounter when we want to be untruthful, as it is easier to lie to someone when we don’t have to deal with their reactions or control our own body language.”

Spokesperson for Direct Line, Matt Owen says this research shows that if you want to get the truth from someone, face to face is the best way to get a straight answer.

By Samuel Dowuona