With Halloween looming in the very near future one wonders if the ‘reconnect’ feature’s algorithm doesn’t have a little bit of ‘All Hallow’s Eve’ mischief in it or is programmed for the macabre. Either way it is managing to upset more than a few Facebook users with suggestions that border on the, well, bizarre.
Mashable shares with us some of the experiences that have been reported as a result of the Facebook ‘improvement’.
Unfortunately Facebook’s algorithms can’t account for some less desirable scenarios: according to Twitter reports, the site is recommending that users reconnect with ex-girlfriends and ex-boyfriends. It’s recommending they reconnect with their (current) husband or wife. It’s even advising people to reconnect with friends who have died, causing obvious distress. These aren’t isolated cases: there are scores of Twitter reports of these issues.
Ouch. I am sure that Facebook will explain this away as some kind of innocent mistake but there are some larger considerations here. As we rush forward to more and more with social media there appears to be less concern about testing. Just put something out there and if it is broken then slap a ‘beta’ label on it or do something to explain it away. It appears that social media is more like sales than I ever imagined since asking for forgiveness trumps asking for permission by a country mile.
Here are a few examples of reactions to the service and its apparent lack of couth.
So do you have any unfortunate reconnect stories to share? Is it possible as well that there are just Facebook haters that are telling these stories just to create a stir? Of course it is! Trick or treat!
