wow. FaceBitch sinks to a new low with this, i mean, invasion of privacy is bad enough, but focking with people's heads, too???? that's some poorly socialized media

http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/30/technology/facebook-mood-experiment/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Internet outraged by Facebook's 'creepy' mood experiment

By Charles Riley @CRrileyCNN June 30, 2014: 1:45 AM ET

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

Everyone has a bad day on occasion. But what if Facebook made it worse -- on purpose, and without telling you?

Internet users have reacted angrily to news that Facebook researchers manipulated the content some users were shown in an attempt to gauge their emotional response.

For one week in early 2012, Facebook (FB, Tech30)changed the content mix in the News Feeds of almost 690,000 users. Some people were shown a higher number of positive posts, while others were shown more negative posts.

The results of the experiment, conducted by researchers from Cornell, the University of California, San Francisco and Facebook, were published this month in the prestigious academic journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

The study found that users that were shown more negative content were slightly more likely to produce negative posts. Users in the positive group responded with more upbeat posts.

So it worked! Facebook was able to successfully change the emotional state of its users. While the mood changes were small, the researchers argued that the findings have major implications given the size and scale of the social network.

Facebook's term of service gives the company permission to conduct this kind of research, but many users have reacted with anger at what they say is a dangerous social experiment. There is no indication that the 690,000 subjects were asked if they would like to take part in the study.

"I wonder if Facebook KILLED anyone with their emotion manipulation stunt," privacy activist Lauren Weinstein said on Twitter. "At their scale and with depressed people out there, it's possible."

Facebook uses an algorithm to determine which of roughly 1,500 available posts will show up in a user's News Feed. The company frequently changes this program to modify the mix of news, personal stories and advertisements seen by users.

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The Facebook researcher who designed the experiment, Adam D. I. Kramer, said in a postSunday that the research was part of an effort to improve the service -- not upset users.

"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," Kramer wrote. "In hindsight, the research benefits of the paper may not have justified all of this anxiety."

A Facebook spokesman said the company frequently does research to "improve our services and to make the content people see on Facebook as relevant and engaging as possible."

"We carefully consider what research we do and have a strong internal review process," the spokesman said in a statement. "There is no unnecessary collection of people's data in connection with these research initiatives and all data is stored securely."

Given the company's terms of service, it does not appear that Facebook faces any legal implications. But the guinea pig nature of the experiment -- and the decision to execute it without the explicit consent of participants, raises ethical questions.

Susan Fiske, the Princeton professor who edited the research, said that while the research was "inventive and useful," the outcry suggests that maybe it shouldn't have been carried out.

"I was concerned," she told The Atlantic, "until I queried the authors and they said their local institutional review board had approved it -- and apparently on the grounds that Facebook apparently manipulates people's News Feeds all the time... I understand why people have concerns. I think their beef is with Facebook, really, not the research."

[Edited 6/30/14 4:20am]

It's up there with creepy psychology experiments like sleeping in someones roof and observing what people do when they think you're not watching them.

Psychology is what people study when they're just not smart enough to be a real doctor or a scientist.

This lack of smarts is reflected in what they waste their government funded research projects on... aiding corporate marketing.

[Edited 6/30/14 4:50am]

hausofmoi7 said:

It's up there with creepy psychology experiments like sleeping in someones roof and observing what people do when they think you're not watching them.

Psychology is what people study when they're just not smart enough to be a real doctor or a scientist.

This lack of smarts is reflected in what they waste their government funded research projects on... aiding corporate marketing.

[Edited 6/30/14 4:50am]

and this experiment happened in 2012. i wonder what they're doing right now that FB users will find out about in two years??

XxAxX said:

NinaB said:

This is another reason why I'm glad I'm not on any 'social media'. Social engineering or mind control would be a more apt term.

You could say that Prince.org is like that!!!!

PurpleSpirit319 said:

NinaB said:

This is another reason why I'm glad I'm not on any 'social media'. Social engineering or mind control would be a more apt term.

You could say that Prince.org is like that!!!!

definitely. whenever a squabble gets going on a thread, it can derail the thread from the actual topic, and turn folks who would otherwise just be talking about a subject into snarky beyotches.

not me, of course i mean, those other folks

I keep telling people about f*ckbook but nobody wanna listen.

I had facebook for a week and found it to be a complete waste of time. People from fucking High school trying to friend me, other telling me bout their latte at starbucks?? I was like WTF and cancelled.

babynoz said:

I keep telling people about f*ckbook but nobody wanna listen.

Oh reeeeeeeeally now?

Do you have to pay for hookups? Is it easy to use like Tinder? How many hookups have you gotten?

lazycrockett said:

I had facebook for a week and found it to be a complete waste of time. People from fucking High school trying to friend me, other telling me bout their latte at starbucks?? I was like WTF and cancelled.

insane, isn't it? nothing short of ridiculous

PurpleJedi said:

PurpleJedi said:

babynoz said:

I keep telling people about f*ckbook but nobody wanna listen.

Oh reeeeeeeeally now?

Do you have to pay for hookups? Is it easy to use like Tinder? How many hookups have you gotten?

Don't be encouraging me to go looking for hookups....I might dislocate a hip!

I done told y'all that f*ckbook is da debbil.

I'm not surprised, but I ignore most of the force fed info.

When I told y'all to come to my site instead, I think the mods got rid of it, cause they said it was spam, but I don't remember correctly.

So.... now, live with it.

P.S. I have to say that my site has nowhere close to the heavy duty psychological stuff on it that this appears to be, or simply the hardcore Computer Science, but it was my own idea, and I did put my heart and soul into it, and I like to feel that it was..... a Valid Effort.

kewlschool said:

I'm not surprised, but I ignore most of the force fed info.

they were only filtering the suggested posts?

I was imagining they picked and chose amongst your friends posts and only showed you all their sad/depressed/angry venting

ZombieKitten said:

kewlschool said:

I'm not surprised, but I ignore most of the force fed info.

they were only filtering the suggested posts?

I was imagining they picked and chose amongst your friends posts and only showed you all their sad/depressed/angry venting

I still read your posts.

kewlschool said:

ZombieKitten said:

they were only filtering the suggested posts?

I was imagining they picked and chose amongst your friends posts and only showed you all their sad/depressed/angry venting

I still read your posts.

babynoz said:

I keep telling people about f*ckbook but nobody wanna listen.

Years ago, I got so much flack for not signing up for this mess. Looks like I got the last laugh! LOL!

Rightly said:

I've lived in different countries It's a top way of staying "in touch" with very little effort.

I'm curious - do things like Yahoo Groups still exist? i.e. does anyone still USE them?

domainator2010 said:

babynoz said:

babynoz said:

Xax----have you seen the video on Youtube about Facebook and the CIA? If not, check it out below: