Really?
A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed on the weekend that in January of 2012, Facebook manipulated the feeds of 689,003 English language users, making slight alterations to see if they could change the large scale mood of the populace. The answer was a resounding yes, a terrifying and appalling yes. The most obvious scandal here is that Facebook is willing, just to see how strong it really is, to experiment with its users' happiness and sadness. But what is most troubling about the PNAS study is the simple fact that a new force for social control has emerged.
Sure, you can be upset about the abuse of their position and the failure to get user approval, and even the general idea that people can be manipulated this way.
As for me, I love Facebook. It is much better than MySpace. I'm going to use it again and again.
