A Bright Side to Facebook’s Experiments on Its Users - NYTimes.com

Refining expectations about what's socially acceptable

"But there’s another benefit in encouraging research on Facebook: It is only by understanding the power of social media that we can begin to defend against its worst potential abuses. Facebook’s latest study proved it can influence people’s emotional states; aren’t you glad you know that? Critics who have long argued that Facebook is too powerful and that it needs to be regulated or monitored can now point to Facebook’s own study as evidence.

It is problematic that Facebook roped users into the study without their express consent. The company has apologized, and now says it will look at ways to improve its guidelines for conducting research. “After the feedback from this study, we are taking a very hard look at this process,” said Jonathan Thaw, a Facebook spokesman."

A Bright Side to Facebook’s Experiments on Its Users - NYTimes.com