Facebook Manipulated User News Feeds To Create Emotional Contagion
Facebook conducted a massive psychological experiment on 689,003 users, manipulating their news feeds to assess the effects on their emotions. The details of the experiment were published in an article entitled “Experimental Evidence Of Massive-Scale Emotional Contagion Through Social Networks” published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
The short version is, Facebook has the ability to make you feel good or bad, just by tweaking what shows up in your news feed.
The experiment tested whether emotional contagion occurs between individuals on Facebook, a question the authors (a Facebook scientist and two academics) tested by using an automated system to reduce the amount of emotional content in Facebook news feeds. The authors found that when they manipulated user timelines to reduce positive expressions displayed by others “people produced fewer positive posts and more negative posts; when negative expressions were reduced, the opposite pattern occurred.”
The results suggest that “emotions expressed by others on Facebook influence our own emotions, constituting experimental evidence for massive-scale contagion via social networks.” For a long time research on emotional contagion was premised on the need for in-person and nonverbal cues, this experiment suggests “in-person interaction and nonverbal cues are not strictly necessary for emotional contagion, and that the observation of others’ positive experiences constitutes a positive experience for people.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregorymcneal/2014/06/28/facebook-manipulated-user-news-feeds-to-create-emotional-contagion/
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We create our realities (singular and collective) with our focus(es). Both the conscious focus, and the unconscious focus. It's the unconscious focus that generally passes for ''realty'' these days.
- It has all the appearances of wakefulness, and yet most are totally unable to gather in what is going-on right in front of their faces.
“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” ~George Orwell
The lazy ones will follow, some will just get along and then there are those who want to buck the system and also those who are able to.
It's weird to me that we would never be able to live without one another but still cannot figure out how we all could get along better
edit: syntax 
interest or time for that and find that there are daily reasons why I am glad I chose not to participate in FB. Don't do twtter or most other of those media. This site, one other and email is enough.
I have a life beyond my keyboard, and thank goodness for that. It helps that I am way out in the sticks (ie., natural surroundings that keep me occupied much of the time) and a summertime job. And I don't have a TeeVee in my world because the wildlife and weather provide me with more engaging interaction.
I think I would have lost my personal independence if I had so much time to spend online that I relied on it for my social life. IMO.
BTW, I love your confrontational spirit on this site! So refreshing!
That was the whole point of the: INFORMATION AWARENESS OFFICE.
- It's why Facebook was created......
K&R
Decided it wasn't for me, so I closed my account. (Too much junk email, ex spouses of cousins from my email account tie-in sending invitations to connect, etc.)
Tried to re-register anonymously just to check out some business sites, but if I use my email, I can't be anonymous because they have kept that old name and address. And they'll close your account if they catch you with a new persona (even lurker "Jane Smith"
because they want accurate data to use.
When businesses or school organizations tell me to look them up on FB, I politely decline and tell them I don't want to do business with Fb. They can email me directly or give me their website. But they can keep their Facebook.
