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Ask Slashdot: Is There an Ethical Way Facebook Can Experiment With Their Users?
An anonymous reader writes: This summer, news broke that Facebook had conducted an experiment on some of their users, tweaking which posts showed up in their timeline to see if it affected the tone of their later posts. The fallout was extensive — Facebook took a lot of flack from users and the media for overreaching and violating trust. (Of course, few stopped to think about how Facebook decided what to show people in the first place, but that's beside the point.) Now, Wired is running a somewhat paranoid article saying Facebook can't help but experiment on its users. The writer says this summer's blowback will only show Facebook they need to be sneakier about it.
At the same time, a study came out from Ohio State University saying some users rely on social media to alter their moods. For example, when a user has a bad day, he's likely to look up acquaintances who have it worse off, and feel a bit better that way. Now, going on social media is going to affect your mood in one way or another — shouldn't we try to understand that dynamic? Is there a way Facebook can run experiments like these ethically? (Or Twitter, or Google, or any similarly massive company, of course.)
At the same time, a study came out from Ohio State University saying some users rely on social media to alter their moods. For example, when a user has a bad day, he's likely to look up acquaintances who have it worse off, and feel a bit better that way. Now, going on social media is going to affect your mood in one way or another — shouldn't we try to understand that dynamic? Is there a way Facebook can run experiments like these ethically? (Or Twitter, or Google, or any similarly massive company, of course.)
Ethical and Facebook have nothing in common.
Yes, it's very simple:
"Dear Facebook user, Facebook is conducting a study to better understand our users. The study will last 2 weeks and no personally identifying information will be recorded. You will likely not notice any difference to Facebook while it's going on. By helping with this study you will help to improve facebook for everyone! Do you consent to be a part of this study?" Y/N
It's called "informed consent"
Actually, if they got VOLUNTEERS, it would be ethical.
Kind of like experimental drug studies, the subjects need to know they are being experimented on, in order that it be ethical.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
They did get volunteers. Everyone who uses FB is a volunteer. They have agreed to FB's terms of service, which allows FB to do this.
Don't like how they run the show? Then don't use FB. If enough other people don't, it will die the death it deserves. But if you keep allowing all your data to be sold for profit, they'll keep doing so. It's not that complex of a concept.
(Of course, few stopped to think about how Facebook decided what to show people in the first place, but that's beside the point.)
No, it's the entire point. Your stream, to the extent that it's "your" stream, is already manipulated in ways you're not told, based on what Facebook thinks you will find interesting, funny, or engaging enough to come back and see more ads. Experiments have to happen as part of Facebook's desire to expand, if only to see which manipulations mean more ads displayed. The only difference is that now the people who are interested in something closer to science than ad sales at Facebook won't tell us about their results. Are you happy?
That's duplicitous. People use Facebook to keep in touch with family and play little web video games. We both know that grandma isn't going to fetch her spectacles to read pages of legalese in tiny grain print.
Your point might technically cover Facebook legally, but Zuckerberg has a history of proving that not all legal acts are ethical. It's the philosophy that his career is founded upon.
The ethical way to do research is to get explicit, informed consent. If you tried at a university to pass off that consent in a TOS buried in a site related to totally different subject matter then you'd probably be expelled.