If you use Facebook and found yourself momentarily feeling either better or worse in early 2012, an algorithm may have caused your shift in mood. And that's what has some social media users upset today. A controversial research study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on June 17 started to gain digital traction over the weekend. It revealed that Facebook for one week in January 2012 worked with Cornell University and the University of California-San Francisco to test the emotional reactions of nearly 700,000 users to pieces of content. The users weren't notified of their participation and unknowingly helped the researchers learn that people who read fewer positive words were found to write more negative posts, while the reverse occurred when consumers were exposed to fewer negative sentiments. The information-gathering practice isn't likely to be illegal since Facebook users sign away many privacy rights when they agree to participate on the social platform. And the study's gray ethical issues can be probably be debated ad nauseam. Blogs such as AnimalNewYork.com began posting about the study on Friday, and consumers began expressing disdain via social media channels for the sneaky research practice, which of course has led to media outlets pouncing on the development. The brouhaha built to the point where Adam Kramer, the digital giant's research lead on the study, defended the study on his Facebook page late Sunday afternoon. ... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'
[ AdWeek | 2014-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
Spending on shopper marketing has grown faster than anything but digital and social media for packaged-goods players the past decade. But traditional media companies rarely get a piece of the action, which usually involves temporary price reductions or other deals along with in-store advertising... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2014-09-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook has helped catapult sites like BuzzFeed and Upworthy into social stardom, boosting the visibility of media content on the News Feeds of millions of users and generating a deluge of traffic. But in this rising tide, some publishers have seen ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2014-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Facebook researcher apologized after conducting an experiment that temporarily influenced what almost 700,000 readers saw on their news feeds, reviving some customers' concerns about privacy issues.The number of positive and negative comments that users saw on their feeds of articles and... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2014-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If you use Facebook and found yourself momentarily feeling either better or worse in early 2012, an algorithm may have caused your shift in mood. And that's what has some social media users upset today. A controversial research study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2014-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook and two outside social scientists recently published a scientific paper in which they revealed that they had manipulated users’ news feeds to tweak their emotions. Since then, there has been a growing debate over the ethics and practice of Facebook experimenting on its users, as... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2014-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook says it wants to continue sending traffic to publishers, citing how news stories perform well in the News Feed. Facebook said it would start showing more links to news stories in particular to mobile users. And it would begin resurfacing articles in News Feeds that have attracted... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2013-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Among the many goodies Nokia unveiled in its presser at MWC 2012 is a new hub for consuming your favorite written content. Called Nokia Reading, it brings your news feeds, ebooks, and audio books together in a unified, digital magazine-like format that can be accessed on- or offline. The app... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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