Emotional Contagion on Social Media

This assignment delves into the controversial 2014 Facebook emotional contagion experiment. Students are tasked with analyzing research papers that examine how emotions spread through social networks, focusing on concepts like emotional contagion, Internet memes, and self-presentation on platforms like Facebook. The analysis should encompass both the ethical implications of such experiments and their potential impact on user behavior and online interactions.

Running head: APPLIED BUSINESS RESEARCH AND ETHICS
Applied business research and ethics
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Letter of Transmittal........................................................................................................................3
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................4
Research Design..............................................................................................................................5
Literature Review............................................................................................................................5
Statement of the Research Question and Objectives of the Research.............................................6
Research Methodology....................................................................................................................7
Sentiment Analysis..........................................................................................................................8
Sample Unit and Sampling Methodology........................................................................................9
Survey Questions...........................................................................................................................10
Discussion of Data.........................................................................................................................10
Validity and Reliability of the Research Plan................................................................................11
Limitations of the Research Methods............................................................................................12
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................14
References......................................................................................................................................16

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Letter of Transmittal
10th September, 2017
Respected Sir,
I would like to take the pleasure of presenting the following report based on the
Facebook experiment of judging the moods of the people based on their emotional behavior. The
purpose of the report is to help XYZ which is another social media company to get an idea about
the moods of the users on the use of the smell technology.
The report has been prepared after a formal discussion with the manager of the
organization.
I will be looking forward to meet the challenges of the report and achieve the desired
aims and objectives of the report.
Thanking You,

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Executive Summary
The Facebook experiment conducted in the year 2014 was involved to manipulate the news feed
of approx 700,000 users to assess the change in the emotion of the selected users. The following
experiment was criticized by a large percentage of people as the experiment was totally unethical
and unscientific in nature. The main purpose of conducting the research was to identify the
impact of Facebook on users. The following research is based on a different social networking
site XYZ which has expressed its interest to carry on a similar kind of research. But the main
difference of the company’s intention with that of Facebook is that it wants to change the
perception of the users and would be identifying the causes which help to gain the knowledge
that different smells would have on the users. The researcher has mainly used secondary
information to complete the project. At the beginning of the project he provides the users with a
brief introduction that describes the project briefly. He provides the research questions in the
next part which will be provided to the participants and discusses the methods that are used to
conduct the research. In the last part of the research he provides the readers with an overall
summary of the research which contains the different elements, features that have been used in
the following research.

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Research Design
The following research is based on the study of the impact of the users on positive and
negative comments on the news feed of the social networking site. The infamous experiment of
Facebook to study the impact of negative feedbacks has invited widespread criticism from the
people and the company has been accused of hampering the social life of the individuals
(Carberry 2014). The following report offers a detailed analysis of XYZ experiment to help the
researchers interpret the findings of the research to determine the issues of validity in the use of
the large scale social media information in the particular case (Kramer et al. 2014). The
researcher identified a number of participants for the following research and conducted an
interview based on some questions prepared by them. The questions are;
a. What can be the impact of the research on individuals?
b. What are the reactions of the people towards such a research?
c. Can the research achieve its aims?
The responses to the following question hold the key to the implementation and success of
the experiment.
Literature Review
XYZ network is a social media company that operates a social media website similar to
facebook. The following company has been planning to conduct a similar experiment process
like the one conducted by Facebook a few years back. The company wants to identify the
emotional state of the service users that would be helpful for the company to identify the types of
news feed that the customers prefer. Facebook is the leading social networking site that has more

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than 1.2 million global users. A global survey on use of social networking sites has revealed that
more than 40% of the users of the new technology. Majority of the social media users are aged
around 30 although the number of older aged people is on a steady rise (Coviello et al. 2014).
The aim of this report is to get an idea on whether reading a depressing post in Facebook affects
the minds of the people. Facebook attracted huge critic once they decided to remove all the
positive posts and fill them instead with more negative ones. The opposite occurred when
negative posts were removed from the pages.
Emotional contagion refers to the idea that believes that emotional states can spread
among the people without their awareness (Segelken and Shackford 2014). Real world social
network is responsible to transfer the moods of the people to good or worse depending upon the
situation (Martin et al. 2015). XYZ social media will try to evaluate the individual’s reaction
while manipulating the data in the website. The mentioned company is trying to implement the
digital scent technology to study the behavior of the different users who use the webpage. Digital
scent technology is the engineering discipline that deals with the olfactory representation. It is
the particular technology to transmit sense and receive scent-embedded digital media (Hennig-
Thurau et al. 2015).
Statement of the Research Question and Objectives of the Research
The Researcher used qualitative methods for formulating the research. After selecting the
sample group he constructed some questions to be answered by them in the interview process;
a. Do you think the Facebook was ethical in manipulating the information of users? If
yes why and if no then what should have been done?

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b. How much impact will unethical approaches in social media have an influence on the
minds of the users?
c. How can scent technology be useful to gain knowledge about the moods of the people?
The researcher has tried to find out ethical ways to help XYZ find some ethical ways to
launch the smell technology in the market (Hennig-Thurau et al. 2015). The stress on the use of
ethical ways is given to avoid any complication that rocked Facebook when they tried a similar
research by manipulating the information used by the users to assess the moods of the people in
changing conditions.
Research Methodology
The following case is based on the application of unethical methods by Facebook to
manipulate the contents of the data (Deng and Hu 2016). The researcher has conducted the
research based on qualitative methods. He has used the help of questionnaires to conduct the
whole research. Some common methods that were used in the conduction of the research were
group discussions, interviews and observations of the participants. The responses of the
participants formed a key element to the designing of the report (Deng and Hu 2016).
The researcher has used the cognitive-affective—behavioral model; habit predicts
dependence through maladaptive cognition and through a distorted effect. The following model
of behavioral framework also predicts that a deficiency in self regulation and makes the social
media dependence of people more high (Booth 2014).
A. Maladaptive cognition- The habit literature ensures the situational cues automatically
controls the well learned sequence of actions leading to the behavior of the different
individuals (Carberry 2014). The distorted belief system is found out to work

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automatically when there is a presence of stimulus related to addiction behavior (Hunter
and Evans 2016). It is believed that the personal behavior of the people is also controlled
by the social media participation. Maladaptive cognition is positively linked to the
habitual experience in positive learning. Though the maladaptive cognition is believed to
be the most critical element in the Integration and the innovation of the PIU in the
behavioral model but still no such specific concepts about the condition is established
totally (Shaw 2016). Social media use can influence or change a number of different
beliefs like thoughts of the self and other global thoughts. Social media also uses a
rational approach which is a change from the transitional form (Guadagno et al. 2013).
The extended TAM was earlier used in some previous researches to explain the different
kinds of technology addiction in relation to online auctions, online video games and other
uses of the internet.
B. Deficient Self Regulation- Self regulation uses, personal self regulation overall can be
referred to the control the desires of some people, behaviors and emotions through self
monitoring and judgmental process. The following self regulation can operate in
integrated and strategic processes (Coviello et al. 2014). The deficiency in regulation odf
self behavior results in the creation of emotionality, fear and passion.
Sentiment Analysis
The researcher has used the sentiment analysis in the following research. The analysis of
the emotional valance of the content can be determined to produce reliable forecasts in a variety
of different situations (Elfenbein 2014). A number of sentiment analysis algorithms is present
that are capable to get hold of the negative and positive sentiments some of them specifically
designed for short and informal texts. In the following work the researcher has used the Senti

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strength to annote the different posts in XYZ pages. The following method is selected by the
researcher as it provides a lot of different advantages in comparison to the other methods present
in the market (Visser et al. 2013). The following method is used to make sure that all the short
texts along with the different types of slam messages or symbols are analyzed which helps them
to analyze the reactions of the individuals easily. Selfi Strength assigns to each tweet S+t as a
positive sign while S-T is assigned as a negative symbol. The polarity score S has a range in
between -4 to +4 which are extremely negative and extremely positive respectively (Carberry
2014).
Sample Unit and Sampling Methodology
The researcher identified sample strength of 1000 people among the different users of
XYZ social media group. The identification was done on the basis of the active community of
people who uses the site a number of times in a day and is believed to be super active users of
the following social media page. The researcher used the random method of sampling to
complete his research. The following method is used to provide an universal outlook to a project.
It has been also put to use as it is believed to be the most transparent method of sampling.
Application of simple random methods of sampling in the research had the following set of
steps;
a. Lottery method- The lottery method has been used to make sure that each member of the
population with a consequent manner and writing the numbers in separate pieces of
paper. The papers were folded and left in a box and then they were randomly taken out
from the box to identify the participants.

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b. Using Random numbers- The other method to determine the number of participants was
to number the population from 1 to N. The sample size was thus determined randomly.
The collection of authentic information is one of the main factors that determine the
success of the research. In the following research the information has been collected from
various sources to make the project compact in nature.
Survey Questions
Some of the survey questions that were used during the research were;
1. Do you think the scent technology to be an effective tool to determine the moods of the
people?
2. Can olfactory technology be the most suitable technology for the future?
3. Do you think such an innovative technology can change the perceptions of the world?
4. Do you think Scent technology to be helpful for the development of telecommunication?
5. Can digital scent technology be helpful for the conduction of different researches?
6. Can digital scent technology help in improving cancer research?
Discussion of Data
The research conducted by the social media site Facebook to manipulate the emotions of
the users was one of the most criticized experiments. The news feed of the mentioned Social
networking site where people updates their status, messages, and photos is believed to be not a
perfect mirror for the world. In this particular report the researcher have conducted a special
experiment to help XYZ to the researcher has made a note on the use of the digital scent
technology. The technology is one of the engineering disciplines that deal with the olfactory

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representation (Del Vicario et al. 2016). It is the technology which helps the users to gain smell
based digital media like sense; transmitting and enabling scent related digital media. The
technology uses some specially designed machines like olfactometers and electronic noses that
help to sense on how the critical operations are performed. Though XYZ is desperate to
introduce the new technology it has to extra cautious on not repeating the same fault committed
by Facebook (Gerbaudo 2016). The new social networking site cannot afford to lose out the
users to other users in the market. The management of the company has provided the researcher
with the task of assessing the importance of the smell technology and on implementing the scent
technology for getting an idea on the moods of the people.
Validity and Reliability of the Research Plan
Validity is the concept that is concerned with the extent to which the research plan is
measured. The researcher has considered different factors while constructing his research. Some
of the considered factors include the contents, creation, predictive validity, discriminant and
many more as such. Reliability on the other hand refers to the estimation of the consistency of a
particular element (Salganik 2014).
In original terms the term validity is an indication on how the research has been
conducted or the indication on how sound and effective the research is. Elaborating the term
validity applies to both the design and methods of the research (Rodebaugh and Leary 2014).
The researcher has conducted a qualitative research to determine the outcomes of the research.
He has used a number of questionnaires to make the research an effective one. To determine the
validity and reliability of the response of the participants the researcher has conducted the SPSS
analysis. He has conducted the SPSS based on some specific questions prepared by him. The

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questions were multiple choice questions and had some specific set of options namely; agree,
disagree, strongly agree, strongly disagree and last but not the least is neutral. The participants
are free to choose any of the given set of answers.
Reliability and validity can be mentioned as the two sides of the same coin having almost
all similar characteristics (Hennig-Thurau et al. 2015). Reliability and validity are closely
related. A research can be termed as a reliable one as because the participants will be answering
the same question and will thus be receiving the same scores irrespective of the place of the
exam (Grohol 2014). The researcher has taken some measured steps to validate the
questionnaire. The steps are;
a. Establishment of the validity of face
b. Pilot test
c. Clean Dataset
d. Revise
Limitations of the Research Methods
In a research proposal, limitations are prescribed the situation and circumstances by
which the analysis data can be affected or restricted. Certain influences are present in the
research proposal that cannot be avoided by the researchers (Guazzini et al. 2016). During the
commencement of the research, shortcoming or influences can be raised up that become
uncontrollable in nature and create implications on the certain provisions of the methodology.
Following are the points that are related to the research limitation:
 It is required to broaden the aims and objective of the research to level the
standard of study;

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 Certain additional methods regarding the choice of data collection should have
been adopted to increase the scope of the research analysis.
 It is important to implement certain data collection methods that depict the nature
of the implementation process.
 In the area of research limitation, it is required to discuss the scope of the
research proposal.
There are certain potential impacts that limited the findings or the abilities to answer the
questions effectively. Certain moves are there under the research topic that should be identified.
The moves are the announcing moves that have the potential impacts and the reflective moves.
The qualitative research is known as socio-anthropological research (Coviello et al.
2014). In this research program, certain scientific approaches are being observed, though the
research cannot be conducted by way of mathematical way. The main potential of the qualitative
research is that these are time consuming in nature. Other limitations of the qualitative research
are that the scope of interpretation of the researchers is limited. Further, the research is open-
ended and therefore, the researchers are unable to verify the objectives of the project.
Under this research method, the researchers face difficulties to find out the casualties
regarding the research phenomenon. It is quite difficult to differentiate the quality and quantity
of the information (Ferrara and Yang 2015). It is important to point out all the possible
limitations to maintain the accuracy regarding the research program. It is required to conduct a
thoughtful planning to obtain the ultimate purpose of the research. The qualitative data cannot be
explained mathematically. The limitations are needed to be avoided to replicate the difficulties
regarding the qualitative research (Chambers 2014).

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The main objective of the qualitative research is to describe a matter in detailed version.
If there is any ambiguity cropped up regarding the discussion or the subject matter of the case,
the corpus of the research matter should have to be done. One of the most common limitations of
the qualitative research is that the scope of it cannot be widened and they are different from the
quantitative research analysis (Lin and Utz 2015). Therefore, it can be stated that the limitations
that are pointed out in this case should be resolved for the betterment of the research method.
Recommendations
The researcher is not interested in the sample rather they are interested in the
understanding of the population and how the methods can be applied to the whole population.
Conduction of a survey has a greater scope than the conduction of a census. This is because
census is limited to the data of a small geographical area and a small group of people whereas the
sample survey is based on a larger population and involves a huge diversity. The researcher must
keep in mind some features while constructing a sample; they are;
a. Consistency- One of the most important tasks for the researcher to have a clear viewpoint
of the population on which the sampling is being done. The change in the information
during the surveys is a critical phase and the researcher has to be careful about such a
change which has a direct impact on the research.
b. Transparency- The researcher has to undergo different hurdles while undergoing the
survey process. The researcher must have the courage to disclose all the facts and
information related to the research and should not hide anything. This can help the
researchers to have a clear understanding of the research and will help to see the research
in the right perspective.

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c. Diversity- Diversity is one of the key elements while collecting the sample responses and
choosing the sample size. The diversity of the population on which the research is based
helps in the formulation of a clear and flawless research.

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References
Booth, R., 2014. Facebook reveals news feed experiment to control emotions. The Guardian, 30,
p.2014.
Carberry, J., 2014. Media statement on Cornell University’s role in Facebook ‘emotional
contagion’research. Cornell University Media Relations Office.
Chambers, C., 2014. Facebook fiasco: was Cornell’s study of ‘emotional contagion’an ethics
breach. The Guardian, 1.
Coviello, L., Fowler, J.H. and Franceschetti, M., 2014. Words on the web: Noninvasive detection
of emotional contagion in online social networks. Proceedings of the IEEE, 102(12), pp.1911-
1921.
Coviello, L., Sohn, Y., Kramer, A.D., Marlow, C., Franceschetti, M., Christakis, N.A. and
Fowler, J.H., 2014. Detecting emotional contagion in massive social networks. PloS one, 9(3),
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Del Vicario, M., Vivaldo, G., Bessi, A., Zollo, F., Scala, A., Caldarelli, G. and Quattrociocchi,
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Elfenbein, H.A., 2014. The many faces of emotional contagion: An affective process theory of
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Ferrara, E. and Yang, Z., 2015. Measuring emotional contagion in social media. PloS
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Gerbaudo, P., 2016. Constructing Public Space| Rousing the Facebook Crowd: Digital
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