Did You Change Your Facebook Picture to a Rainbow Flag?
The Daily Mail has claimed the ‘Celebrate Pride’ tool may be another psychological test by Facebook. This led to the Atlantic’s speculation that Facebook could gain unprecedented insight into how to influence people.
Although Facebook was previously under fire for alteration of newsfeeds of almost 700,000 users in a huge psychological data experiment, they have denied using it to collect user data on behavior. They said: “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.”
More than 26 million Facebook users have already applied a rainbow filter to their profile picture – with countless brands, politicians and celebrities also taking part, gathering over 500,000,000 comments. Elsewhere, homophobes on Facebook are protesting against the trend of ‘rainbow’ Facebook pictures – by superimposing the American flag over their face.
Our Perspective. While we believe Facebook’s actions were sincere, it would be naïve for us to deny the massive marketing benefits of knowing those either in support or against the historical Supreme Court’s decision for equal marriage. The first example that comes to mind is the upcoming election, where candidates will be spending millions of dollars in ads to earn your vote. It would be even easier now, for Facebook, to distribute these ads based on our apparent views. What do you think?
The Final question: Did we pass the test Facebook? Are you not entertained?