Social media may be able to manipulate user’s feelings to create marketing opportunities

“Social media companies may be able to manipulate timelines to create emotionally fueled marketing opportunities”

That’s the conclusion of a forbes article on a study conducted among around 600k Facebook users. So in short, Facebook can make you feel good or bad, depending on how they tweak what will show up in your news feed.

Sounds a bit scary, but the implications of this study are quite sleeky:

“What harm might flow from manipulating user timelines to create emotions? Well, consider the controversial study published last year (not by Facebook researchers) that said companies should tailor their marketing to women based on how they felt about their appearance. That marketing study began by examining the days and times when women felt the worst about themselves, finding that women felt most vulnerable on Mondays and felt the best about themselves on Thursdays.

The marketing study suggested companies should “[c]oncentrate media during prime vulnerability moments, aligning with content involving tips and tricks, instant beauty rescues, dressing for the success, getting organized for the week and empowering stories… Concentrate media during her most beautiful moments, aligning with content involving weekend guides, weekend style, beauty tips for social activities and positive stories.” The Facebook study, combined with last year’s marketing study suggests that marketers may not need to wait until Mondays or Thursdays to have an emotional impact, instead social media companies may be able to manipulate timelines and news feeds to create emotionally fueled marketing opportunities.

source:  http://onforb.es/1m8qzQN