I've been considering running a 30-day social experiment on Facebook to explore how physical appearance, personality, and perceived background might influence social media engagement.

The Concept

The idea would be to create two separate Facebook pages, each representing a fictional female character. Both would have their own names, biographies, personal backgrounds, interests, and carefully developed online identities.

Although both characters would be entirely fictional, they would be presented with the same level of detail and effort.

Profile One – The American Professional

• Nationality: American
• Appearance: Petite, blonde, conventionally attractive, with a stylish and professional look.
• Personality: Confident, outgoing, career-oriented, and socially active.
• Background: Perhaps a business professional with interests in fashion, travel, and everyday lifestyle topics.

Profile Two – The German Artist

• Nationality: German
• Appearance: Fuller-figured, curvier, with a larger bust and a more relaxed, artistic sense of style.
• Personality: Creative, expressive, approachable, and passionate about her interests.
• Background: Perhaps an artist or creative professional who enjoys painting, photography, music, and sharing her work.

The Experiment

Over a period of 30 days, both pages would follow a similar posting schedule, with comparable content, posting frequency, and activity levels.

Throughout the experiment, I would monitor and record several engagement metrics, including:

• Page followers and overall audience growth.
• Likes and reactions to individual posts.
• Comments and audience interactions.
• Post views, reach, and engagement rates.
• Differences in how audiences respond to each character.

The Objective

The purpose would be to investigate whether social media audiences demonstrate measurable preferences or biases based on a person's physical appearance, perceived nationality, body type, or online identity.

At the conclusion of the 30-day period, I would compare the results to determine which profile attracted more attention, how audiences interacted with each character, and whether any noticeable patterns emerged.

Would the conventionally attractive, professionally styled American receive more engagement? Or would the curvier, creatively inclined German attract a larger or more interactive audience?

Perhaps there would be little difference at all.

Using AI-Generated Images

Both characters would use AI-generated images rather than photographs of real individuals. This would avoid involving anyone's personal photographs without their permission and allow both fictional identities to be developed consistently.

The Bigger Question

Social media is often described as a platform where personality, creativity, and content determine popularity.

But how much of that popularity is actually influenced by appearance and the assumptions people make about someone before they even interact with them?

That's what I'd be interested in exploring.

This wouldn't be about proving that one body type, nationality, or personality is better than another. It would simply be an attempt to observe how people respond to two different fictional online identities under similar conditions.

In a 1 on 1 or group setting, I'm well received and most people tend to listen to me. I have no problems sustaining a conversation and having others feel engaged with me.

My problem is, I have a difficult time joining a group or approaching People myself.

Often, other people invite me over. But, I want to learn how to take initiative on that. Any recommendations or advice regarding this?

I just feel so out of place when I ask to join or invite others to join.