Facebook “research” from 2012 has recently gotten some stick from journalists and average Joes alike. Facebook users’ news feeds were manipulated to observe changes in their emotions by analysing their wall posts and comments after they had viewed certain images and news feeds. What is worrying, is that apparently, the research shows that people who viewed negative imagery and negative comments then posted negative comments and wall posts themselves, effectively an emotional contagion. This simply means that users began to feel differently and therefore changed their online behaviour as a result. What could this mean to you?
The government-sponsored study conducted by Facebook and two US universities back in January 2012 reports: “‘These results indicate that emotions expressed by others on Facebook influence our own emotions, constituting experimental evidence for massive-scale contagion via social networks.“
The curiosity that is born from the research is this: why would the government sponsor it? Have there been other cases of this kind of research that haven’t been publicised? And furthermore, is it an unethical move? While the research may be interesting, it has both positive and negative implications. Depending on the motives and rationale behind this kind of research, it could be very beneficial or detrimental – it’s all about whose hands the findings come into.
Over time, Facebook has gradually pushed the boundaries with privacy and transparency issues. For example, the cover photo audience status is now set to a mandatory “Public”. Do people realise this? How many of you read the Privacy Policy published by Facebook? Or read the updates to policies since Facebook’s inception? When will the profile picture be a mandatory “Public”?
You can learn more about your Facebook Privacy and its settings here.
Facebook Graph Search
In a way, Facebook Graph Search will utilise the contagion concept. You’ll be able to search for people who share your interests. What if somebody likes something that may be deemed socially unethical or maybe even illegal and then wants to find people of similar likes? Will Facebook show you people who want to rob a bank if that’s in your master plan?! Obviously, this is an extreme example, but you get the picture! There are many positive uses of the idea. For example, if you want to find people who like playing scrabble on the edge of a cliff, just search for that and you’ll find your buddies! There’s a great film on the whole concept of contagion, funnily enough, it’s called Contagion.
To wrap things up, I will leave you with this question: At what point does research like this become unethical, IF users are unaware of it happening and are unaware of the reasons behind it?
By Iñaki Castellet Hernández
By Jeff Sheridan
By Matrix Internet