Psycho-social Experiments
This week I learned that Facebook admitted it will use data gathered when you use the new emojis to alter your News Feed and learn more about what you like. The article, which appeared in the Minds Journal, adds this, “Though Facebook often disputes suspicions its updates are psycho-social experiments, the platform’s notorious 2014 study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, proved users can’t be confident they aren’t. Facebook users became unwitting social media lab rats when data scientists manipulated the news feeds of some 700,000 people to study emotional contagion. The newest emojis, in that context, might immediately stoke suspicion Facebook is up to the same tiresome, creepy tricks. If Facebook’s goal is to change your behavior, they need to know your psychological response to photos and videos the same way the tobacco industry needs to track changes in people’s brain chemistry when choosing additives in cigarettes. For Facebook to compete with Snapchat and Twitter, it needs to water their algorithms with something better, and your emotions are a superfood.” 1
Now I posted this article on my Facebook page and I must admit to being taken back some by a comment that suggested it didn’t matter—in other words, so what? That said, in fairness, most did get it.
Think about it for a moment. Does your opinion matter? Do you care about your privacy? Are you willing to allow others to shape your beliefs?
Dynamic Interactive Websites
I wrote about all of this in Gotcha where I shared a bit of information that I’ll paraphrase here and that I originally read in the marvelous book, Lexicon, by Max Barry. “The key to the Web is it’s interactive. That’s the difference. Online, someone visits your site. You can have a little poll there. It says, ‘Hey, what do you think about the tax cuts? ’ And people click and segment themselves. First advantage right there. You’re not just proselytizing, speaking into the void. You’re getting data back. But here’s the really clever part. Your site isn’t static. It’s dynamically generated. Do you know what that means? It means the site looks different to different people. Let’s say you chose the poll option that said you’re in favor of tax cuts. Well there’s a cookie on your machine now, and when you look at the site again, the articles are about how the government is wasting your money. The site is dynamically selecting content based on what you want. I mean, not what you want. What will piss you off? What will engage your attention and reinforce your beliefs, make you trust the site. And if you said you were against tax cuts, we’ll show you stories of Republicans blocking social programs or whatever. It works every which way. Your site is made of mirrors, reflecting everyone’s thoughts back at them. And we haven’t even started talking about keywords. This is just the beginning. Third major advantage: People who use a site like this tend to ramp up their dependence on it. Suddenly all those other news sources, the ones that aren’t framing every story in terms of the user’s core beliefs, they start to seem confusing and strange. They start to seem biased, actually, which is kind of funny. So now you’ve got a user who not only trusts you, you’re his major source of information on what’s happening in the world. Boom, you own that guy. You can tell him whatever you like and no one’s contradicting you.” 2
Permission/Privacy?
Don’t you just love our new big brother technology! And the best part—when we use the technology we agree to all of this!
As always, thanks for the read and I appreciate your feedback.
Eldon Taylor
Provocative Enlightenment
NY Time Bestselling Author of Choices and Illusions
www.eldontaylor.com
Sources:
1 Why Facebook Really Wants You to Use Its New Reaction Buttons
2 Gotcha! The Subordination of Free Will