There’s always something new happening at Facebook, from its appearance to user engagement tests. Whether they’re changing the look of the newsfeed or trying out new products, it seems there is always something we need to keep up with. Infolinks gathered the latest Facebook news so you’ll have it all in one place, including why its COO apologized to users.
Facebook Social Experiments
Facebook is now apologizing for a social experiment it ran including over 700,000 users. The social media world was outraged and spoke out about having their privacy invaded. The experiment sent the unknowing and possibly unwilling participants either positive or negative posts in their newsfeed. It then looked to see if the participants’ posts would follow the same mood. In other words, Facebook wanted to see if emotional states are contagious. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg spoke to user outrage by saying the terms were “poorly communicated.” One of Facebook’s data scientists also apologized, saying that in hindsight it probably wasn’t the best decision. He claimed that the company is working hard on improving how they review data.
Facebook: You Can Unfollow Pages
Facebook is currently testing a popup window on posts by pages reminding users that they can unfollow those pages. The popup reads: “You’re following this page – you can unfollow anytime to stop seeing posts.” This is just another blow to page owners who are already up in arms about the serious decrease in organic reach. But not everyone sees this as negative. Some comments were made that organic search would actually increase if users stopped following pages they don’t like.
Facebook@Work
While this is still a rumor, the idea of Facebook for a work environment is very interesting. An anonymous source inside Facebook spilled to media sources that Facebook is working towards giving the company a better name at the office. Usually when you think of using Facebook at work you think of people sitting around liking things, watching videos and puttering away the day. While it’s still speculation, Facebook could potentially be trying to make itself the platform that companies use for quick communication. Or maybe Facebook@Work will rival LinkedIn. Only time will tell.
What Facebook comes out with next is anyone’s guess, but we’ll be sure to update you on our own Facebook page. We’re on Twitter and Google+ too.