Topic: Facebook – Privacy Issues

Order Description
Facebook has been in the news several times over the past year over issues raised by its users over intrusiveness and apparent manipulation of individual’s news feeds.

An article in the Independent (29/12/2014) included the following comment, ‘Facebook has apologised after a new feature inviting users to review a collection of their 2014 highlights caused some to be confronted with pictures of their recently deceased family members and friends’.

There was much discussion in the media over the thoughtlessness of this algorithm appearing in people’s news feeds.

Another issue over manipulation of news feeds came to light last year when it was revealed that Facebook had been involved in a secret experiment on mood with researchers at Cornell University where 689,000 users unknowingly had their news feeds manipulated by the social network (Guardian 30/6/2014). Again there was much commentary in the media over the ethics of this activity.

For this activity, please research both of these incidents which were widely reported in the Press and media and provide a commentary on the various arguments concerning issues around privacy and social media. Include any other examples you can find of privacy issues and social media. What are your own views on this issue?