Facebook is the gatekeeper to the unique and structured data of over 1.4billion individuals. They hold the keys to the largest aggregated database of human data that the world has ever known. With this data they run over 1000 experiments per day. From simple UX changes, to massive social engineering experiments. This presentation discusses one of those experiments. One that was conducted late in 2012 on the day of the 2012 U.S. Presidential election. This presentation discusses the tactics and the outcomes used to convince over 320,000 people to get off the couch and vote. For anyone who;s interested in large scale data experiments, or even just what Facebook do with the stuff you like and post, then this presentation is for you. I hope you enjoy, and thanks for viewing.

1. FACEBOOK EXPERIMENT
THAT COULD MAKE A
PRESIDENT
THE

2. This story takes place on
Tuesday, November 6, 2012

3. The day of the 2012
United States Presidential
Election between
Barack Obama & Mitt Romney

4. Spoiler:
Obama Won.

5. But America faced a problem
on election day…

6. Voting isn’t compulsory in the U.S. and
over the past few decades voter turn-out
on election day had been in decline.

7. Facebook
decided they
wanted to
help out
‘sup guys. I hear you
need a hand with some
democracy?

8. So they selected 1.9 million U.S.
Facebook users at random to receive this
voting reminder on their newsfeed

9. When a user voted, they were
encouraged to press the
‘I Voted’ button.
This would then be shared
automatically with their friends
list.

10. The message to ‘get out
and vote’ spread

11. By the end of the experiment, Facebook data
scientists noted that the number of users who had
seen the notification & voted had increased from
63% 67%to
340,000
Which equated to approximately
additional votes being placed

12. GREAT!
Voter turn out is low.
Facebook is helping democracy.

14. But wait just a second…

15. But wait just a second
while I go and put my tinfoil hat on
Let me go and put my
tinfoil hat on
And yes, this is Dave Grohl

16. Facebook has A LOT of information
about its users.
Here’s a sample of some of the information a typical Facebook account hands over:

17. • Name
• City of birth
• City of residence
• Phone
• Email
• Current employment
• Previous employment
• Relationship
• Anniversary
• Previous relationships
• Previous names (aliases)
• Screen names
• Address book
• Family members
• Birthday
• Religious views
• Bands you like
• Movies you’ve seen
• TV Shows you watch
• Video games you play
• Food you eat
• Your Favorite Athletes
• Restaurants you’ve eaten at
• Activities you participate in
• Websites you visit
• Apps you’ve downloaded
• Games you’ve played
• Pages/Businesses you’ve
un-liked (when)
• Videos you’ve watched
• Comments you’ve liked
• Websites you’ve visited
• Articles and websites you’ve
commented on
• Level of online engagement
• When you changed jobs
• How long you stayed in a job
• Credit card details
• IP Address
• Device you’ve accessed the
Internet from
• Exact Geo-location
(longitude, altitude, latitude,
time/date stamp)
• TV, Film, Concert you are
currently watching
• Book or publication you are
currently reading
• Audio you are currently
listening too
• Drink you are currently
drinking
• Food you are currently eating
• Activities you participate in
• Advertising you interact with
• Profiles you interact with most
• Locations you access Faceboo
• Locations you access web
properties connected to Facebook
• Surveys you’ve filled out
• Companies you like
• People you’ve been tagged wit
• People you frequently hang
out with
• Friends you’ve requested
• Friends you denied
• Friends you’ve un-friended
• How often you are online
• Apps you Admin/created
• Pages you admin/created
• Your current mood
• Sports teams you support
• Your Favorite Sports
• Inspirational people
• Favorite Clothing brands
• Places you’ve visited
• Events you’ve attended
• Events you plan on attending
• Address
• Website
• Email address(s)
• Sexual preference
• Gender
• Languages spoken
• Friends
• Books you’ve read
• Events your friends are
attending
• Major life events
(location, dates, who)
• Photos
• Pokes
• Wall posts
• Private messages
• Groups you’ve joined
• Networks you are a part of

18. And of course, information that can
identify your political preferences.

19. Barack Obama has
nearly 43million fans.

20. It’s pretty safe to
assume that they
won’t be voting for
Jeb Bush next year.

21. So, if targeting a reminder to vote
to 1.9million random people can
encourage 320,000 additional
votes…

22. …what if that reminder was
targeted at one particular group of
people, yet avoided another
group completely?

23. Target & encourage
supporters of one
party to vote.

24. But don’t target the
supporters of the
other party.

25. This kind of simple targeting could literally
encourage more votes for one party, but avoid
doing it for the other.
Which can be a VERY big deal.

27. Of course, deliberate targeting to influence political
agendas is not something I am suggesting that Facebook
are currently doing. Nor am I suggesting that they would
do something like that.
But I guess what I am suggesting is…

28. …they’ve proven they can.

30. This is a SlideShare version of the article
‘The Facebook Experiment that could Make a President’
by Daylan Pearce.
The full version is available here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/facebook-experiment-
could-make-president-daylan-pearce
For more words I’ve put in an interesting sequence or to keep in touch please visit
http://daylandoes.com or via Twitter on @DaylanDoes