Facebook's data scientists have attracted public scrutiny for conducting experiments on its users: tracking their moods and voting behavior.

1. Facebook, LGBT and the
numbers behind it all

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Facebook celebrating marriage equality
• On June 26th, 2015 the American Supreme
Court decreed that same sex marriage is a
constitutional right
• It was a quantum leap for LGBT rights
worldwide and people from every corner of
the earth celebrated this iconic moment

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Facebook on LGBT
• Facebook, always known for having their
finger on the pulse, enabled users to modify
their profile pictures, in a manner that left the
resulting edited photo carry a rainbow tinged
varnish, the insignia for the LGBT rights
movement
• In a stunning display of solidarity, over millions
changed their profile photo in the first few
hours after the feature was enabled and the
internet was painted in the colors of the
rainbow

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Was this a Facebook experiment?
• It all started when an MIT professor changed
his profile picture and jokingly said "This is
probably a Facebook experiment!”
• Facebook's data scientists have attracted
public scrutiny for conducting experiments on
its users: tracking their moods and voting
behaviour
• Though, much less attention has been given to
their ongoing work to better understand
collective action and social change online

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What happened on FB?
• Many people, changing their profile pictures
was a true act of courage
• It was all about coming out in our social
context and stating that this was the stand you
were taking
• Collectivism often has its pitfalls, and this
often results in the much maligned slacktivism

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Results of the research
• Facebook’s researchers classified profile images from
over 3 million users in March 2013, along with 106
million users who were exposed to those changed
profiles
• FB predicted the likelihood of someone changing their
profile to an equality image, depending on how many
friends they had seen make the change
• FB found that while someone’s likelihood to participate
varied based on several factors—a person’s political
affiliations, religion, and age, for example—the
likelihood to change one’s profile image was greater
with more exposures to changes by friends

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