The initial intention of Facebook administrators may have been good, but it seems that a mistake was made in the " Year In Review " application that all users saw on their home page this week, and this is because many users ended up feeling more sad than happy.
The “ Year In Review ” app uses the slogan “It was a great year! Thank you for being there for me.” However, this is not true for everyone, as for many it was not even a great year, and they would certainly prefer not to remember it.
The same is true in the case of web designer Eric Meyer, as reported in the Washington Post. A few months ago, his daughter passed away from brain cancer on her sixth birthday. So, Eric is clearly one of those who definitely does not want to relive those painful memories, through the application offered by the social networking site. The algorithm that offers the option to choose which photos will appear in the banner depends on how many likes they have received.
In a blog, Eric spoke with a strong and critical mood about Facebook's indifference:
"This unintentional algorithmic cruelty is the result of a code that works for the vast majority of users, reminding them of how great their year was. But for those of us who have experienced the death of loved ones … we may not want to relive the year that is ending that way.".
Jonathan Gheller, Facebook's project manager for "Year In Review," apologized to Meyer and told the Post about the issue: "The app was great for a lot of people, but it's clear that in this case it brought more sadness than joy," he said, adding, "We could have done better — I'm grateful that despite his sadness, he took the time to blog about it.".
Source: Proto Thema
