The Facebook™ Experiment

So, have you heard about this?

For one week, back in 2012, The folks at the Book of Faces helped some academic researchers perform a social experiment.

Read all about it, here.

Facebook™ manipulated the news feeds of around 70k users, (I'm guessing a pretty small percentage of total users,) placing a majority of positive posts on some feeds, and negative posts on others.

The idea was to find out how those posts affected the subsequent posts of those who saw them.

Not surprisingly, the experiment concluded that positive posts begat positive posts, while negative posts...

Well, you get the picture.

This is the sort of experiment that draws such a predictably mundane conclusion that it needs to be filed under...

                                                                  "No shit, Sherlock!"


So, are you offended, angered, surprised or shocked...

                                                                     "Shocked, I say!"


... about this revelation?

If you answered "Yes" to any of the above, your Uncle PC has one thing to say to you...

"WAKE THE FUCK UP!!! You are not paying attention!"

(You know that your Blog seldom uses "caps lock" or exclamation points, So, you know that your Uncle PC is laying some serious truth on you.)

Do you get your news from "mainstream" TV or cable "news?" and accept it as fact? 

"WAKE THE FUCK UP!!! You are not paying attention!"

Do you get your information from web sites and email?

"WAKE THE FUCK UP!!! You are not paying attention!"

Do you swipe a "rewards card" at your favorite grocery store or restaurant?

"WAKE THE FUCK UP!!! You are not paying attention!"

Do you use your GPS enabled cell phone to Google™ or Mapquest™?

"WAKE THE FUCK UP!!! You are not paying attention!"

Are you getting the picture? Or, is the Facebook™ story still pissing you off?

"WAKE THE FUCK UP!!! You are not paying attention!"

For better or worse, we have traded in our expectation of privacy for convenience, entertainment, and lower prices.

And I know that I am not going to give up the benefits of this brave new world.

I don't have to like it. And, neither should you.

But, it is what it is. And we have all let it happen.

So, check your outrage.

See you later, on Facebook™.