How to make Facebook turn your life happier

A few months ago I wrote an article where I fantasised about humans being taught by the machines to say “please” and “thank you” and become more polite at the end. Well, now it's time to see how emotional contagion via social networks can effectively turn our life happier.

Be it for the spread of negative moods – panic, anxiety or depression –, due to the current pandemic, or be it euphoria for the vaccine campaigns now in operation, emotional contagion is now back under the spotlight, backed by a large number of controversies related to the role of Social Media.

Facebook was the first – in 2014 – to analyse the relation between emotional contagion and digital environments. It conducted a pioneer experiment that eventually became very popular and seminal. Twitter and Instagram followed – in 2015 and 2017, respectively – and provided further experimental evidence for massive-scale contagion via social networks and in onLine environments.

Thanks to these studies, we all know now that emotional contagion occurs via text-based computer-mediated remote communication in the same way as for direct in-person interactions. Despite the physical distance and the complete absence of non verbal clues as body movements, nuances of the voice and facial expressions.

On the other side, we have learnt that when spending their (ever increasing) time on digital media, people are exposed to a tremendous volume of emotional expressions of others which can lead to habituation or fatigue. This counterweights one's contagion potential resulting from his (or her) onLine social network size, normally much larger and far-reaching than its real-life equivalent.

We have also learnt that texting and social media platforms users see explicit forms of intended manipulation as more acceptable than covert forms. They do not mind commercials and even outright propaganda for it is often seen as part of the deal with the service provider.

I want the experience I want!

Marketers know better than anyone else how digital emotional contagion works and they count on that when they plan their campaigns on Social Media. They know emotions have the first and final word when it comes to moving an audience. From arousing people's attention to compelling them to click. They manage tone, wording and type of content, they establish the moment when emotions bloom and control the way in which they are expressed and thus how mass contagion spreads. These top-down design decisions guide duration, size and effectiveness.

And to what end? To give people “the experience they want”.

So, I want the experience I want!

I want a filter I can set to personally choose the mood of the messages on the feed of my favorite Social Media – including advertising, of course. I want an app, maybe a plug-in, an extension, a widget or another something, I can click on it and decide if I want to be happy or angry, sad or optimistic for the rest of the day. I want a simple grid of icons with a smiling or a griming emoji, a teardrop or a sun rising to tap on or, even better, a rainbow like Mood Chart stripe with a touch-friendly slider I can swipe from "Insanely Awesom" to "Miserable".

Every morning, right after I've shut down the buzzing noise of the alarm clock on the bedside table and before I decide what to have for breakfast, I want to turn my mobile on, launch this app – let's call it: My Today's Mood –, make my choice and start enjoying the flood on the feed.

...Wouldn't it be nice?

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