Facebook and the massive psychology experiment

[Ahavah]

Scientists at Facebook have published a paper showing that they manipulated the content seen by more than 600,000 users in an attempt to determine whether this would affect their emotional state. The paper, “Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks,” was published in The Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences.

Read more here---> Facebook tinkered with users’ feeds for a massive psychology experiment · Newswire · The A.V. Club

 

[Glass*Soul]

Scientists at Facebook have published a paper showing that they manipulated the content seen by more than 600,000 users in an attempt to determine whether this would affect their emotional state. The paper, “Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks,” was published in The Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences.

Read more here---> Facebook tinkered with users’ feeds for a massive psychology experiment · Newswire · The A.V. Club

This went beyond research and entered the realm of experimentation, as people's frames of mind were deliberately manipulated, at times with the express purpose of creating more negative frames of mind. Experimentation requires informed consent which must include an explanation of the risks and benefits obtain the subjects' agreement to undergo any risks. This was not informed consent. In particular, those being treated for depression, social anxiety, paranoia or any other conditions that might put them at risk of an adverse outcome had no opportunity to opt out.

 

[Autumnleaf]

That's nothing. They play downer songs on Sunday mornings to encourage guys to make the pain go away.

They blaspheme Mary all over the country music charts, and in pop too ie Madonna.

Drugs in hip hop and alcohol in country music abound, if the hipsters do it then others will want to copy them.

I could go on and on and on about it.

 

[Paxton25]

This went beyond research and entered the realm of experimentation, as people's frames of mind were deliberately manipulated, at times with the express purpose of creating more negative frames of mind. Experimentation requires informed consent which must include an explanation of the risks and benefits obtain the subjects' agreement to undergo any risks. This was not informed consent. In particular, those being treated for depression, social anxiety, paranoia or any other conditions that might put them at risk of an adverse outcome had no opportunity to opt out.

I smell a lawsuit!

 

[GoldenBoy89]

This went beyond research and entered the realm of experimentation, as people's frames of mind were deliberately manipulated, at times with the express purpose of creating more negative frames of mind. Experimentation requires informed consent which must include an explanation of the risks and benefits obtain the subjects' agreement to undergo any risks. This was not informed consent. In particular, those being treated for depression, social anxiety, paranoia or any other conditions that might put them at risk of an adverse outcome had no opportunity to opt out.

Bet ya they covered it in the ToS no one ever reads before they agree.

 

[Glass*Soul]

Bet ya they covered it in the ToS no one ever reads before they agree.

The terms of service allow their member's data to be used in research for internal purposes. It doesn't include an agreement to be experimented on.

 

[Vylo]

The experiments were minor and unobtrusive. You can't ask for consent on a study like this or it will skew the results.

 

[Glass*Soul]

The experiments were minor and unobtrusive. You can't ask for consent on a study like this or it will skew the results.

Well, they are going to have trouble claiming that it was minor and unobtrusive while simultaneously defending the content of their abstract which claims that their study demonstrates "...experimental evidence for massive-scale [emotional] contagion via social networks." It then goes on to claim that, "...the well-documented connection between emotions and physical well-being suggests the importance of these findings for public health. Online messages influence our experience of emotions, which may affect a variety of offline behaviors."

 

[Autumnleaf]

Well, they are going to have trouble claiming that it was minor and unobtrusive while simultaneously defending the content of their abstract which claims that their study demonstrates "...experimental evidence for massive-scale [emotional] contagion via social networks." It then goes on to claim that, "...the well-documented connection between emotions and physical well-being suggests the importance of these findings for public health. Online messages influence our experience of emotions, which may affect a variety of offline behaviors."

How many suicides will it take to bankrupt facebook?

 

[Ahavah]

I'm thinking every large social network is being manipulated in some way or another, but it's just not being exposed right now in fear that people will end their accounts. Notice even on Christian forums, how some days..people are more argumentative than others while some days people are in a generally good mood? Manipulation of moods by posts? Who knows?

 

[Glass*Soul]

I've deleted my account. My interest in facebook was always minimal at best and lately their policies have been creeping me out.

 

[contango]

Scientists at Facebook have published a paper showing that they manipulated the content seen by more than 600,000 users in an attempt to determine whether this would affect their emotional state. The paper, “Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks,” was published in The Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences.

Read more here---> Facebook tinkered with users’ feeds for a massive psychology experiment · Newswire · The A.V. Club

Awesome. So some of the content of Faceache feeds might not have been pure drivel, it might have been experimental drivel. Every time I see my wife's Faceache feed I wonder why people bother with it.

A friend of mine has often commented that you can customise your feed to only get the bits that interest you. I always reply that I have done just that.

I don't have a Faceache account.

 

[seashale76]

So- a few years ago Zuckerberg made well known his views on internet privacy. I said, 'uh-oh' and left Facebook. Then, the Egyptian government asked for personal info. on a guy who criticized Islam on FB and FB gave it to them. He was sentenced to 3 years of hard labor. The other day, news came out that a Christian in Egypt simply 'liked' a pro-Christian post on FB. Again, FB was more than accommodating to the Egyptian government and gave them his info. Now, this guy was sentenced to 6 years in prison for blasphemy and has a 800 some odd dollar fine to pay. Now, people are having informed consent taken away from them via douchey loop-holes that FB has orchestrated in the terms of agreement you all agreed to. When are FB users going to learn and stop using FB?

 

[ulu]

the good news is that facebook has enabled mark zuckerburg to earn over $250000 each day

 

[Glass*Soul]

So- a few years ago Zuckerberg made well known his views on internet privacy. I said, 'uh-oh' and left Facebook. Then, the Egyptian government asked for personal info. on a guy who criticized Islam on FB and FB gave it to them. He was sentenced to 3 years of hard labor. The other day, news came out that a Christian in Egypt simply 'liked' a pro-Christian post on FB. Again, FB was more than accommodating to the Egyptian government and gave them his info. Now, this guy was sentenced to 6 years in prison for blasphemy and has a 800 some odd dollar fine to pay. Now, people are having informed consent taken away from them via douchey loop-holes that FB has orchestrated in the terms of agreement you all agreed to. When are FB users going to learn and stop using FB?

I actually learned that yesterday.

I loved their apology. What they actually apologized for was wording their abstract of their study in a fashion that upset people.

Here's a link to the statement that isn't facebook: Facebook Responds to Negative Reactions to Its Experiment on Users

[O]ur goal was never to upset anyone. I can understand why some people have concerns about it, and my coauthors and I are very sorry for the way the paper described the research and any anxiety it caused.

Oh, and they care about, "the emotional impact of Facebook." Well, now. Of course they do.

 

[Glass*Soul]

Interesting. According to Forbes, the bit in their TOS about "research" wasn't there when this study was done. It was added four months later.

Facebook Added 'Research' To User Agreement 4 Months After Emotion Manipulation Study - Forbes

 

[theophilus777]

This went beyond research and entered the realm of experimentation

Gee, the US Gov't would never do such a thing!?!

 

[Glass*Soul]

Gee, the US Gov't would never do such a thing!?!

What's your point?

 

[BigDaddy4]

I've deleted my account. My interest in facebook was always minimal at best and lately their policies have been creeping me out.

I've never had a facebook account, nor do I participate in other forms of social media (Twitter, etc.), except for a LinkedIn account. I don't even like it when I do Google searches and then the products/topics I searched for show up on banner ads on my hotmail account.

 

[theophilus777]

Gee, the US Gov't would never do such a thing!?!

What's your point?

US Gov't clearly has done exactly that, and far worse. I do not for a minute believe that the overlap is coincidence. Why are Gov't employees not allowed to partake? (Not true of all, but many departments have that policy)