As one of the people said below, there is an easy way to test the validity of that statement – take 30+ participants with randomly selected backgrounds and friend networks and break them into 2 groups for different ‘trigger word’ and then study their newsfeeds.
It seems that there is a subgenre of geek-oriented clickbaiting, which has a strong claim about something tech-related like AMAZGOOGBOOK with little proof or scientific study. We, as a community, can be better at identifying and pointing out deficiencies in the scientific method, instead of saying ‘I’m not sure they do it, but it would be scary, if they did’.
The story about uber tracking your battery status is legit and has been proven and I don’t remember it climbing as high as no 2 on the front page, so IMO we can readjust our BS-meters.
I think the days of giving corporations benefit of doubt are long gone. Now if outrageous claim is made by any sort of reasonably credible source, you can be sure there is an ounce of truth to it. So yes FB probably does do this, and people claiming conspiracy to discredit this are the crazy ones.
Finally, I can tell them that they are the crazy ones. I told you General Motors was breaking into my house at night and reorganizing the books on my bookshelf!
That's a fallacy. Just because a credible source says something does not necessarily mean it actually happened. What if they truly believe that what they say is reality but then find they are completely wrong?
It seems that there is a subgenre of geek-oriented clickbaiting, which has a strong claim about something tech-related like AMAZGOOGBOOK with little proof or scientific study. We, as a community, can be better at identifying and pointing out deficiencies in the scientific method, instead of saying ‘I’m not sure they do it, but it would be scary, if they did’.
The story about uber tracking your battery status is legit and has been proven and I don’t remember it climbing as high as no 2 on the front page, so IMO we can readjust our BS-meters.