When Facebook offered a "rainbow filter" for images, following last week's landmark Supreme Court decision in favor of gay marriage, people joked that it was probably another creepy social experiment. Well, probably, yes.
Even seemingly small online actions—clicking the "like" button, changing one's profile photo—are being tracked and analyzed. Just like McAdam's research on Freedom Summer shapes our understanding of support for marriage equality, Facebook's past research on marriage equality has helped answer a question we all face when deciding to act politically:
Does the courage to visibly—if virtually—stand up for what a person believes in have an effect on that person's social network, or is it just cheap, harmless posturing? Perhaps the rainbow colors across Facebook will become part of the answer.
Previously: Facebook's massive psychology experiment likely illegal
