Likewar: The Weaponization of Social Media

by P.W. Singer

Consider something as innocuous as the “notification” icon—the red dot that has haunted the Facebook app for a decade. No part of the design is an accident. Red is the color of agitation and psychological arousal, the mere glimpse of which can lead to a spike in heart rate. It feels good to make red things go away. Because notifications are purposefully vague until touched, following them can feel like opening a present. (Is the notification a long, heartfelt comment from a close friend, or just another forgotten acquaintance’s birthday?) While the notification icon was certainly intended to make Facebook users’ lives easier, it was also intended to keep users buried in the app—part of what leads the average person to touch their phone 2,617 times each day. In short, that red button provides the good news of the company’s value to hand to Facebook shareholders at their annual meeting. Although Facebook engineers were essentially putting a drug in users’ pockets, it wasn’t their—or anyone’s—job to consider the potential side effects.