With great power comes great responsibility, so said Spider-Man (or was that Voltaire?). What greater power than knowing our most intimate relationships and emotions? It seems Facebook has that power; it just announced the result of a secret test that turned 689 000 users into involuntary guinea pigs. According to the experiment, negative posts in our feed make us more likely to write negative statuses ourselves. Who could have guessed? By tinkering with the algorithm (oh, it’s always the Algorithm), Facebook can decide whether we get more or fewer negative posts. So not only does Facebook know how we feel, it can actually change the way we feel. At least to the extent those feelings are expressed in status updates. Not sure the eight-page user agreement says anything about that, but it does apparently give Facebook the right to conduct experiments like this on its users without prior consent. Of course, if you want to use Facebook, it’s take it or leave it, so who reads the fine print anyway? Is there a problem here? Sure, you could vote with your feet, but the more social networks influence our lives, the harder it gets. The point of no return is probably in the past, so Facebook (and the others, you know who they are) should stop talking about voluntary users and start taking some responsibility. With great power…
