There’s no doubting the emotional and psychological power possessed by Facebook—at least Facebook doesn’t doubt it. It has bragged about how it increased voter turnout (and organ donation) by subtly amping up the social pressures that compel virtuous behavior. Facebook has even touted the results from these experiments in peer-reviewed journals: “It is possible that more of the .60% growth in turnout between 2006 and 2010 might have been caused by a single message on Facebook.” No other company has so precisely boasted about its ability to shape democracy like this—and for good reason. It’s
...more
