Inhibiting Facebook Expressions

Facebook users said in a survey that they cannot comment as effectively as they would like due to Facebook's limitations in self-expression, and thousands said that they felt more options beyond "like", "share", and "comment" were needed. 

The Professional Institute of Busy Bodies (BBs), which commissioned the survey from Random Research "to gauge the scale and impact of 'inhibition' and social silencing among Facebook users," released the results Monday during a fictitious news conference. BB represents a whole bunch of Facebook users across the country, including 20,000 vegans, 15,000 Yoga Instructors, and 5,000 work-from-home professionals, who sign in from their Macs, PCs, iPhones, or iPads, including Facebook users who have their Twitter accounts linked to their Facebook pages.

In all, the busybodies sent invitations to participate in the survey to 15,398 high school graduates in June. A total of 4,069 responded that they were busy enjoying their summer vacation.

Twenty four per cent of respondents said they “sometimes” or “often” could not adequately respond to a Facebook post because there were not enough buttons. Most often, the buttons they stated were missing were (in the following order): "dislike, sorry, who cares, and lol." In the notes portion of the survey Facebook users who listed "lol" as a necessary button said that it would save them time typing "lol" and thus increase their own productivity. 

The survey asked Facebook users whether they agreed with a number of statements about their ability to freely respond to posts. It found:

• 37 per cent agreed that they had been prevented by Facebook software or management from responding to a post from the public or a friend about their choice of meals in the past five years.
• 14 per cent agreed that they could click freely and without constraints to the posts their friends posted on the inherent difficulties associated with getting off one's arse and going to work.
• 10 per cent said they could just type what they wanted without constraints because they had absolutely nothing better to do with their days. 

In addition:

• 50 per cent of respondents said they were aware of “cases where a post was misconstrued" (or "liked" inappropriatly) causing them to wonder about their friends' moral judgment.
• 71 agreed that "our ability to click on posts in a way that relates to higher human expressions and progress, which are based on scientific evidence and facts, have been compromised by Facebook limitations," although a greater number (81 per cent) thought they could just type what they wanted to say.
• 48 per cent said they were aware of cases where their friends clicked "like" when in reality they probably weren't happy that someone's grandpappy was having surgery or had passed away. These incongruities “suppress expression, and led to incomplete, inaccurate or misleading impressions.”
• 74 per cent of respondents thought the sharing of private family business with complete and utter strangers has become too widespread. They stated that they clicked "like" in acknowledgement of having read the post rather than expressing their delight associated with reading or thinking about the content. 

In recent years, there have been numerous complaints from Facebook Users feeling inhibited by Facebook management from publicly talking about their feelings. Some complaints are being investigated by Facebook-leak Information Jumbler Haji Ketosis. 

Haji Ketosis's grandmother, who is also head of policy and communication for BBs, said this is the first time anyone has collected “quantifiable evidence” about Facebook inhibiting self-expression and then releasing that information to the public.

“It’s a potential threat to all Facebook users,” granny said. “We need to fix it.”