- Giants
- Financial Times
- Personality trait changes
Personality trait changes
Financial Times's small multiples drew 3M views on X: 6.5x its typical post and #2 of 25 Financial Times charts we track by views. Read Oct 10, 2026.
NEW: Is the internet changing our personalities for the worse?
Why it spread
This post spread because a consequential claim about personality change drew 11,470 likes, 2,776 reposts, 753 quotes, 7,525 saves and 2,957,964 views, with a quote rate in the top quarter and an independent author driving many quotes.
What worked
- The post leads with a direct question about whether the internet is changing our personalities for the worse, which frames the small multiples as a story rather than a data dump.
- The chart shows relative change in personality traits by age group, so the age comparison is built into the form and young adults become the visible focus.
- The post is branded, shows a source line, and comes from an independent author, which supports trust while the thread format invites quotes and saves.
What to borrow
We could use small multiples to show relative change by group for our own data, pair it with a plain question in the post text, and keep a visible source line and brand mark.
Careful
Do not copy the causal framing as if the chart proves the internet caused the shift, and do not over-read the high views as agreement rather than attention.
Written by our analysis model from the measured numbers above, not by Financial Times.
Make it yours
Your numbers, in this line chart.
Starts from the real numbers of "Young adults' personalities are changing, with conscientiousness in freefall" by Financial Times. Replace every number with yours before you post. Make one like this, step by step
Free pictures carry a small "Made with ViralChart" line. That line is how other people find us.
API · Max
Use this chart via API
On the Max plan you can pull this chart's numbers with the provenance of each one, as JSON or CSV, with its redraw spec, or call it from an agent over MCP. Chart id 50677c67914f.
Approximate values. Our two readings of this chart agreed only in part (confidence 0.30 of 1), so check the original before you quote a number. The API marks it lowConfidence, and ?min_confidence=0.5 leaves it out.
| Path | Returns | Plan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GET | /api/v1/charts/50677c67914f | Title, publisher, date, form, point count; with a Max key, the data link | Open |
| GET | /api/v1/charts/50677c67914f/data | Every point with its provenance and confidence, plus the redraw spec. Add ?format=csv for CSV | Max |
| GET | /api/v1/charts/50677c67914f/render?view=1 | The draw-only view this page uses | Open |
| POST | /mcp | Tool get_chart_data with this id, for Claude, Cursor and other agents | Max |
curl -s https://viral-chart.com/api/v1/charts/50677c67914f/data \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $VIRALCHART_KEY"claude mcp add --transport http viralchart https://viral-chart.com/mcp \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $VIRALCHART_KEY"60 requests a minute per key; over that you get 429 with Retry-After. Up to 5 keys per account, made on your account page and shown once. Without Max, the data route answers 402 with a link to the plans. The numbers describe a chart its publisher owns, and every file carries a license note.
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Questions people ask
How far did Financial Times's "Personality trait changes" chart travel?
2,957,964 views, 11,470 likes, 2,776 reposts and 7,525 saves on X, read Oct 10, 2026. A normal post from @jburnmurdoch gets about 455K views.
What kind of chart is it?
A small multiples. Relative change in personality traits by age group.
Can I use Financial Times's chart?
Use the format, not the picture. The chart, logo and design belong to Financial Times. ViralChart redraws the chart type with your numbers and words, and credits the original publisher.