You may have come across the much talked about “Year in Review” post of Facebook on your news feed. Like your friends, you may have liked it and shared it with your dear friends to cherish the moments of the year together.
But, not many people would know that Facebook apologized to one person after its Year in Review Post, which is algorithmically made for each individual user that showed all the bad memories of him.
The purpose of the Year in Review Post was to show a montage of pictures and memories that make the important highlights of a person’s year, also based on interactions between him and his friends. But, for one man it turned out to be a saddening to the core as all it brought were the melancholy and the tears.
Eric Meyer, a Web developer, rebuked Facebook’s algorithm in an article after it “repeatedly” showed the picture of his six-year-old daughter who died earlier this year because of brain cancer. We can imagine how hard it is for someone to watch the picture of the dear person who just passed away and that, too, presented in a flashy and bright way as Facebook did. It requires Facebook to review its algorithmic system to ensure the satisfaction of its users as nothing precedes the emotions and feelings of the people. Eric described his feelings in a poignant way.
“For those of us who lived through the death of loved ones, or spent extended time in the hospital, or were hit by divorce or losing a job or anyone of a hundred crises, we might not want another look at this past year.
To show me Rebecca’s face and say “Here’s what your year looked like!” is jarring. It feels wrong and coming from an actual person, it would be wrong. Coming from code, it’s just unfortunate.”
