There is no denying the fact that social media has woven itself into society. Though not every person across the globe has jumped on the social media bandwagon, a large part of the world has. So much so, that many people rely on social media as their sole means of getting news about friends, family, local happenings and even world events.

However, it has been known for some time that businesses and corporations have been looking for an effective method to leverage social media to use for their own personal gain. Now, many are accusing the U.S. military of using social media sites as their very own virtual petri dish.

Many of these accusations stem from a study that was recently published regarding how emotions can be associated with social media posts, in particular, Facebook. In essence, how the moods portrayed on Facebook directly effected the moods of readers.

The study, titled “Experimental Evidence of Massive-Scale Emotional Contagion through Social Networks” (1), found that:

“When positive expressions were reduced, people produced fewer positive posts and more negative posts; when negative expressions were reduced, the opposite pattern occurred.”

When the study was first released, a Cornell a press release was issued stating that the study was partially funded by the James S. McDonnell Foundation and the Army Research Office. (2)









Facebook Users Irate

Then, all hell broke loose. Facebook users were irate at the fact that were possibly used as human lab rats. The idea of Facebook and the researchers at Cornell deciding to manipulate their emotions and hide behind Facebook’s Data Use Policy was just appalling.

The story took the web by storm and the media immediately labeled it as the Facebook Manipulation Experiment.

Facebook users were not the only ones upset. Other researchers stated that the study actually breached ethics guidelines due to the lack of informed consent regardless of Facebook’s Data Use Policy. As a closer look at the study was being taken, readers began to ask, why is the U.S. Army experimenting on the emotions of Americans? (3)

Interestingly enough, Cornell issued a statement that they were wrong about the study being partially funded by the Army Research Office and that it had received no external funding. This correction was not made until a month after the initial press release was issued and only after the public backlash against the Facebook Manipulation Experiment; leaving many to believe that the so-called correction was just a little too convenient…Especially since the U.S government and the Department of Defense have been known to leverage social media any way that they can.