Tech Shift: Companies using social media users as experiments

Tech Shift: Companies using social media users as experiments

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Over the last few weeks we’ve gotten a glimpse at some of the ways social networks are experimenting with their users. First Facebook published a paper on how it modified some user’s news feeds to see if that changed their emotions. Then yesterday dating site OK Cupid founder Christian Rudder wrote on the company’s blog about similar experiments they had done. Those included telling some couples they were a 90 percent match on OK Cupid’s algorithm when really weren’t compatible at all. Selena Larson covers social media issues for tech news site Read Write. Rudder joins us.