While many of us may tell a white lie here or there, a new study has found that Australian women are more deceitful than men when posting on social media.
The University of Technology Sydney Business School in collaboration with The Works advertising agency, used an algorithm to indicate deceit in social media posts.
Researchers analysed hundreds of thousands of public posts on Facebook, Twitter, TripAdvisor and Instagram.
They found almost twice as many women as men posted embellished statements when writing on Twitter and Instagram.
While women were found to lie more often overall, men from Adelaide and Sydney were found to be just as guilty, taking first and second place for Instagram's biggest liars.
Leader of the Datafication project Douglas Nicol, says the words used when posting to social media are huge indicators of whether or not the truth is being told.
"If we use the pronouns `I' or `me' we are less likely to be lying as we subconsciously distance ourselves from what we know to be a lie, but certain words and when they are used in combinations with others, are a good indication of deceit," Mr Nicol said.
"White lies are used to manage our own personal brand, to make a good story a great one, or stroke our own egos."
"People make false statements to gain privileges from brands they otherwise wouldn't get, such as complaining about airlines, hotels or restaurants in order to be compensated, or to gain social power as well as trying to elevate their own importance," he said.
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