These days, there’s no escaping social media.

While it’s a great tool for connecting with people and keeping in touch with your 1,600 “friends” and family from around the world, there’s also plenty of room for abuse — especially when you come across users who ruin your time online with annoying behaviours such as their incessant need to document every single aspect of their day.

Not unlike a wildlife documentary, you can always find different types of animals people lurking on social media. We’ve scoured our feeds and curated a list of 15 common social media users you have probably encountered.

#1. The Reposter

If your timeline is often flooded with random posts shared by one particular person, then you may have a Reposter in your midst!

Notoriously known to share anything and everything under the sun, Reposters are users who hit the ‘’Share’’ button for just about any video, article and picture that they think will interest their friends.

It’s impossible to identify their patterns and thought process when such posts appear on your timeline — you can expect videos of tumbling pandas, pimple popping, how to make ramen with a twist and conspiracy theories about various issues at any time of the day.

A word of caution: some Reposters do not fact-check what they are sharing, which exacerbates the problem of false news going viral.

#2. The Narcissist

Probably one of the most annoying creatures on our list, the Narcissist enjoys treating their accounts as their diary, and revel in sharing every minute detail of their lives — from their #OOTDs and selfies to their meals with whoever who has the misfortune of being connected to them on social media.

You can expect the Narcissist to share a status about how their day went, what their cat did, how busy they are, complaints about the weather, colleagues, road conditions, among a host of other things.

#3. The Foodie

As the name suggests, the Foodie is a food lover and a common social media species who floods his or her timeline with a barrage of food posts.

Whether it’s videos on how to make the fluffiest pastries, creative food art or the latest restaurant review, if its related to food, the Foodie will likely be the first share it.

You can also expect to see shots from their food adventures, often accompanied by the hashtag #foodporn.

#4. The Tag, You’re It!

You can usually spot the quiet “Tag, You’re It!” in the comment section, where they will tag their friends as an indication for them to check out the post.

But be warned! Some are often unpredictable (or have a weird sense of humour) when tagging friends in random posts such as the viral Hi Stranger video or those that highlight “top psycho names” for the fun of it. It’s safe to say that with such species around, you’ll never know what to expect!

#5. The Cryptic Attention Seeker (CAS)

The Cryptic Attention Seeker (CAS) is a bothersome creature who often moans and rants about their misfortunes on social media without providing any details, such as, “Why must everything bad always happen to me?” or “No one loves me, I’m all alone in this planet!”.

But don’t be fooled! While everyone is bound to face problems at some point in their life, the CAS uses this tactic to gain attention from their friends and acquaintances, and not necessarily to find ways to solve their problems.

Case in point? When concerned queries come flooding in the comment section following a sad post, and the CAS brushes it off with "I don’t want to talk about it” or “It’s nothing...”.

#6. The Aspiring Politician

The Aspiring Politician is a vocal creature who has a lot to say about the current ongoings of the country’s politics (or even those that are happening overseas).

They are easy to spot: their posts consist of political news that is often accompanied by their angry and scathing analysis of the issue, along with criticisms as captions. If you’re not a political enthusiast, stay away from such creatures as they can be overly aggressive with their opinions.

#7. The Gamer

Among the many creatures out there, the Gamer is another quiet social media species native only to Facebook. Their sole purpose of having an account is to send game invitations to their friends.

Over time, you may find yourself feeling mildly annoyed that your notifications mostly comprising Candy Crush / Clash of Clans / Farm Heroes Saga game requests from the Gamer, and not likes or comments from your friends for your own posts.

#8. The Jet-Setter

The Jet-Setter is one of the richest and most glamorous creatures on social media — they are not known to settle in one place for long periods of time. Instead, you’ll often find them travelling to breathtaking islands and exotic cities.

You can easily identify the Jet-Setters from their Facebook and Swarm check-ins, their multiple vacation albums and travelling pictures on Instagram and Snapchat, equipped with geotag filters. They secretly enjoy comments such as, “Omg, I’m so jealous!” and for the girls, “Have fun, babe!!”.

#9. The Singer-Songwriter

Often compared with the Cryptic Attention Seeker (CAS), the Singer-Songwriters are the ones who post song lyrics as captions on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, usually with zero context, but with the same goal as the CAS — to gain attention from their friends on social media.

A common subspecies of the Singer-Songwriter is the emo Singer-Songwriter who posts snippets of (you guessed it) emo lyrics, such as Sam Smith’s Too Good at Goodbyes (i.e. You must think that I’m stupid, you must think that I’m a fool) or ZAYN and Sia’s Dusk Till Dawn (i.e. I’ll be with you from dusk till dawn).

#10. The PDA Poster

Some forms of PDA among couples can seem sweet or cute, but others can get nauseating, especially when shared in excess online.

Not that there’s anything wrong with showing affection, but the PDA Poster loves declaring their love for their significant other online, sometimes coming across as having to prove their happiness as a couple with the rest of the world. You can easily spot them sharing many pictures of themselves with their significant other, often with the hashtag #bae, particularly the females.

#11. The Transformer

The ever-elusive and rare Transformer is a creature you may or may not have encountered — they are distinguished by their profile picture, which usually consists of cars, trucks and other "manly" vehicles.

Their main timeline theme is — you guessed it! — cars, cars and more cars.

#12. The Fisherman

Sometimes known as the Humble Bragger, the Fisherman is notoriously known to fish for compliments from their friends and acquaintances.

They’re the ones who tweet or post about how terrible or wonderful their lives have been (often with an accompanying picture to “prove” their point), before downplaying it when their friends comment on it.

They may post a picture of themselves with the comment, “I look so fat today. ): It’s so unfair that my friends eat so much, yet stay so thin,” while their photo shows otherwise. In the comments section, you’ll notice a throng of supportive messages from their friends, such as “That’s not true!”, “You’re beautiful!!” or “You’re perfect just the way you are! <3”.

#13. The Selfie Addict

As the name suggests, the Selfie Addict is a someone who is always posting up a selfie every other day (or sometimes, every day). These include gym selfies, bathroom selfies, make-up selfies, selfies with sports cars and travel selfies.

The Selfie Addict has been mushrooming at an alarming rate as smartphone technology continues to improve.

#14. The Oversharer

Not to be confused with the Narcissist, the Oversharer are those who don’t understand that social media is considered a public space.

Oversharers tend to treat their accounts as their therapists or even as a diary by posting details about their personal issues, such as fights with their parents, gory health issues (e.g. pictures of weird bodily growths) or even their STD results!

Our advice? Avoid airing your dirty laundry on social media as it may come back and haunt you.

#15. The Keyboard Warrior

We saved the best for last! Also known as the “Online Troll”, the Keyboard Warrior’s real identity is largely unknown. Many do not feature themselves in their profile pictures nor do they have public information about themselves available — they prefer to keep themselves anonymous.

They’re often branded as instigators and pot-stirrers of the internet, advocating for their beliefs that are not necessarily agreeable to many. Keyboard Warriors are ruthless when getting their points across, to the extent of causing discomfort toward other users, such as belittling the opinions of others or insulting them, point blank, even if it has nothing to do with the topic being discussed.

And there you have it — the many types of “animals” that lurk on social media! While they’re often a mixed bag of nuts and can act as a source of entertainment (or sometimes, something to cringe to), it’s without a doubt that they make social media an entertaining place that keeps you coming back for more.

Have you identified what type of social media animal are you?

What other types of online creatures have you encountered on social media? Share them with us in the comments below!

Spending too much time online can be a guilty pleasure for many students. Find out what other things college students are guilty of doing here.