Facebook experiments – Using a technical glitch to nudge user’s behaviour, maybe

For a couple of weeks’ I would log onto Facebook and two of my friend’s chat windows would appear. I would close them both down, mindlessly browse the News Feed then switch to something more interesting, with turns out to be anything. The next day I would repeat the process – the same two chat windows popped-up, unprompted by any messages from my friends. I’m not an active Facebook user, yet this was irritating. I half-heartedly Googled for a solution but gave up because only half my heart was invested.

Earlier this week I logged on and the issue appeared to have resolved itself. Yesterday I received a message from one of these Facebook friends via my Messenger app. This friend asked if I was free for coffee on the weekend. I am and wrote back. I’ve only met this person twice in real-life occasions spread over years, but the last time we spoke (about a month ago) we got on well and we swapped a few Facebook messages after. I’m glad she arranged a meet-up in the real-world.

Then my paranoia set in. Was this apparent chat window glitch a cleverly disguised Facebook experiment? We know that Facebook runs experiments. What if Facebook sampled its users, popped-up some chat windows, then tracked how many people engaged in further chats? Did the display of the glitch windows cause a lift in chat-engagement? With some text analysis, did it result in plans for a real-world meet-up?

I barely see these two friends – one is living in regional NSW and the glitchy chat window is not compelling enough for me to visit her where there is no city. I’ll check with my real-life coffee friend if she received my chat window as a pop-up and whether it nudged her to reach out. If so, cool. The potential for Facebook to run different experiments is expansive and creative – using glitches as a guise, what else can/do they do? As a former research scientist, I respect it and am envious that they can tweak the Facebook world, sit back and watch users shift their behaviour.