We already know that Facebook tracks a ton of data about its users, including cursor movements, but a recently released study reveals the social network is watching what users don’t do on the social network. The study focuses around self-censorship, which is when a user is creating a Facebook post but deletes it. Facebook even goes as far to track what happens when you reject a Facebook friend request.
Facebook wants users to keep using its site and services so it’s obviously worrying for the company if people are deciding not to share or engage on the social network. Recently, Facebook has been losing its younger audience to competitors like Snapchat. Facebook even offered to purchase Snapchat for over $1 billion.
This study does raise privacy concerns, but Facebook is not tracking the content of what people are and are not posting. Facebook is merely studying the HTML form element, which doesn’t display what you were about to do but does show your behavior on the page.
There are some interesting facts that surfaced from the study, including the fact that users are more likely to self-censor when sharing with a large audience. This makes sense since users feel pressure to post something appropriate for a huge variety of people. Users may also feel intimidated sharing when they know their employers are watching. Researchers Sauvik Das and Adam Kramer of Carnegie Mellon University also found that men were more likely to self-censor, especially if they have more male friends than female friends.
This type of tracking doesn’t bode well to users who are already wary of Facebook’s constantly changing privacy policy. As the social network struggles to retain users, data tracking will become more and more prevalent for the company to understand why users aren’t engaging.
For more information about Facebook tracking what you don’t post, check out the full report at the source link below.
Source: Sauvik Das and Adam Kramer (PDF)
Via: Ars Technica
