Posted on 07/01/2015 10:43:47 AM PDT by Enlightened1
The Atlantic speculated Facebook is using it to monitor how views spread
But Facebook has denied using it to collect user data on behavior
The site has previously come under fire for altered the news feeds of almost 700,000 users in a huge psychological data experiment
Your Facebook feed is probably looking a little more colourful this week.
In celebration of the Supreme Court's approval of same-sex marriage, the site is offering users a tool to overlay their profile photos with a rainbow filter.
More than 26 million people changed their profile pictures using Facebook's rainbow filter to show their support for the LGBTQ community since the tool launched on Friday.
But while it may seem like Facebook's intentions are noble, some reports claim the social network may be carrying out another psychological test on its users.
The reports were sparked by a throwaway comment by MIT network scientist Cesar Hidalgo on Facebook.
He joked: 'This is probably a Facebook experiment!'
'The question is, how long will it take for people to change their profile pictures back to normal.'
This led Atlantic to speculate that by setting up its own tool to let people filter their profile picture, Facebook could gain unprecedented insight into how to influence people.
Facebook, however, immediately denied the claims.
A spokesperson for the site told DailyMail.com: 'This was not an experiment or test, but rather something that enables people to show their support of the LGBTQ community on Facebook.
'The point of this tool is not to get information about people.'
But, as a report in the Atlantic out, the site has long been involved in research to better see how information spreads in a social network.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
It’s group think in action. I hid the few friends who did that rainbow thingie... they’re idiots.
My Space, facebook created for prepubescent girls to gossip about their favorite boy bands etc.
I still don't know why facebook took off. I didn't realize there are that many farking stoopid people on earth.
Good.
Those with a FB - use your "share" button.
> 666 is coming!
Its already here @ 1600 Pennsylvana Ave NW
Confederate Flag -—an endangered species
I show my actual face on Facebook. I do not make any political statements on it. Not to say I don’t in other places, but I just know that Facebook is a top target for employers to take a look at me as a potential business partner or employee.
I do it to keep a tabs on what other people I know, as well as potential employees, are up to. And it would be surprising as to how well it works. Other than that, my wife and I have albums and video that we set to my parents and her parents (we identified those as family).
Narcissism. It's the selfie thing. They want the world to see how "beautiful" they are (after they're done photoshopping). They want everyone else to know how fabulous they are.
The Internet is nothing but one big head game. People can fantasize themselves into another world. No one would know the difference, because the screen only looks one way. The desire to escape reality is why there's a big problem today with Internet addiction. It's easier to sit around in front of a computer and create an avatar of oneself than it is to leave the home, go to work, raise a family, etc.
I don't do Facebook, and I've rarely been more pleased of that fact.
I don’t have a FB page, psycoanalyze that.
“The folks who did it are only surrendering to the left’s agenda, and most of them are too ignorant to realize it.”
I left a one word response after every rainbow pic I saw...
Lemmings...
I hope they are smart enough to figure it out.
most of them won’t be
"Uh....isn't that what they use to make lemonade? What does....uh... lemonade have to do with anything?"
I converted my profile picture black and white. (Well, grayscale actually.) I just felt like mocking the rainbow picture morons.
Mine is now the Bonnie Blue Flag
I did not and none of my friends did. Some sure made fun of it though.
Eighty-one percent of the American population uses Facebook -> 26 percent of the American Facebook population changed to the rainbow icon -> about 47 million.
That’s about 15 percent of the total population, if my math is correct. (I’m using the census bureau number of 312,195,000 people I see here on my other tab.)
Not a landslide by any means.
Here’s something else. I’m a teacher here in Alaska, and I usually friend former students as they graduate, so I have Facebook contact with several hundred twenty-somethings. I’m seeing far fewer than 15 percent on my friend list. Many of the rainbow icons are showing up from people my own age.
Interestingly, many of my fervent Christian Facebook friends are also changing their icons to the cross.
I recognize that it’s possible for an organized minority of true believers to take over a society; certainly it’s happening right now here. These numbers in the article tell me that the left is a minority among us.
Another thought: there’s been a series of surveys saying “a majority of Americans are in favor of gay marriage.” It’s a phrase hiding a lot of different thoughts. A fair number of people I know, when confronted with the question of gay marriage, get uncomfortable about the entire thought of intruding on someone’s sex life, with the comment, “Yeah, sure, whatever, close the shades and don’t talk about it.” That’s not the Gramsciian intent of the present crisis, though.
God help us.
I could not pay for calls if I called everyone I keep up with. I found out on FB that my mom’s cousin died last week at age 109. She was the 3rd oldest person in MS. She was an amazing Christian lady and still remembered people who came to see her. FB is amazing.
LGBTQ? What is this Q?
I didn't know, so I typed it into Google.
How long before they use up the alphabet? Although, clearly, Q should have been the first letter expropriated.
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