Visiting Patterns and Personality of Foursquare Users

The study of personality can now provide us with greater insights into human behaviour, when combined with data from social and mobile networks. In this paper we study the relationship between the types of locations that Foursquare users visit and their personality. Using the five-factor personality model, personality profiles were obtained for 173 participating Foursquare users whose activities were analysed, representing a total of 474, 539 check-ins across the globe. In this paper we present initial results concerning the number and types of venues and the relationship with personality traits. Particular correlations are identified concerning the openness, conscientiousness and neuroticism of participants and their levels of Foursquare activity. Extracting different categories of venues reveals variation in the correlation strength of personality traits of the users. As far as we are aware this is the first study of its type, linking human personality with spatial behaviour in mobile social networks.