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. 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.
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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http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/30/technology/facebook-mood-experiment/
