Facebook really can control your emotions do?

Compile / Sohu IT Imam

Do you believe your mood will be controlled by the website? Do not believe? Well, what Facebook might do will surprise you.

Recently, Facebook was again pushed to the cusp of public opinion because of a study. As early as 2012, Facebook joined Cornell University and the University of California to launch a survey on 700,000 unsuspecting users about "emotional contagion" The purpose of the test is to investigate whether Facebook engineers can in some way stimulate the user to send positive or negative information, so as to achieve the side of the user's mood.

According to CNET, the project has aroused strong public dissatisfaction upon exposure. Many users said they felt "very angry", "horrible" and "extremely evil." In this regard, the British Information Administration (ICO) said, or will be suspected of violating data protection law in the name of investigation Facebook.

In order to ease the pressure of public opinion and restore the reputation image at the same time, on July 3, COO Sandberg openly apologized in an interview with the media: "We clearly recognize that the act was defective in this matter and we are deeply concerned Guilty. "

It is understood that Sandberg has repeatedly stressed that Facebook attaches great importance to the protection of user privacy, even the emotional studies are conducted under the premise of respecting the privacy of users, and its purpose is to enhance the overall service of Facebook. She pointed out that "we want users to understand that we are concerned about their experience and will do our best to achieve this goal."

In fact, Facebook offended public anger, but also revealed a deeper level of the Internet.

When a tech company gets blamed for misconduct, someone is going to come up with a rather bizarre but common view: contentment, they could have done worse and less exercise.

An article published by Forbes Technology and Public Law correspondent Tarun Wadhwa argues that the current relationship between public consumers and Internet companies is not stable. When people use the Internet, they always selectively ignore the costs they may pay for their more personalized and convenient services. In other words, allowing Internet companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Google to cross the ethical bottom line is none other than our own as opponents.

When accepting security privacy terms, few people will stop by to read through the terms. Companies that promise to provide "personalized" experiences and information will choose to believe what they say - even if they are concerned, because we need that experience. Taking the huge amounts of information as bait for free, at the expense of what we see and what we do, users are laying the potential pitfalls for themselves rather than thinking more.

In the case of Google, not long ago, Google introduced European users "selective forgetting" function, that Google believes that everyone has the right to be searched, the corresponding search forgotten the right, the user can request Google removes personal information about yourself in the rules of calculation. As soon as this news was announced, it attracted a lot of attention. Some insiders believe that this act is detrimental to the principle that the Internet is open and transparent. However, "selective forgetting" also clearly shows from the side, how Google search has a subtle influence on our life, not to mention, many of which are people never imagined.

A personalized Internet means that there is always someone who has the power to decide what to present to whom. Facebook experiments are just the tip of the iceberg, in the past ten years, how much personal information is being changed for the collection of tricks, which again can anyone know?

However, the New York Times also gave its own different view on Facebook's Emotional Door incident.

As social networks proliferate, it is widely recognized in the industry that it can have a huge impact on group sentiment, and Facebook today confirms this with its own data. Since it can not escape, then we should understand how they are affected by the Internet, which as a relatively awake Internet trial?

As the author put it, "The positive side is that it finally shows us how social networks can shape our emotions and behaviors."