While at first, Facebook’s 2014 ‘Year in Review’ app sounded like a nice idea, it has brought up bad memories from the past year for some users. One of those users was a web design consultant, who brought it up on his blog and actually got an apology from the developer of the Facebook app.
The ‘Year in Review’ posts feature the default phrase “It’s been a great year! Thanks for being part of it.” It does not allow a user to pick the events they want to highlight, since they are chosen by an algorithm that looks at posts with the most interactions. You aren’t even able to pick your own header photo, which is surrounded by a ClipArt-esque picture of a party.
This was all very cruel for web designer Eric Meyer, whose six-year-old daughter died of brain cancer earlier this year. In his blog post, titled “Inadvertent Algorithmic Cruelty,” Meyer wrote that he knows Facebook didn’t do it on purpose, but suggested ways Facebook should fix the app.
“Just to pick two obvious fixes: first, don’t pre-fill a picture until you’re sure the user actually wants to see pictures from their year,” Meyer wrote. “And second, instead of pushing the app at people, maybe ask them if they’d like to try a preview—just a simple yes or no. If they say no, ask if they want to be asked again later, or never again. And then, of course, honor their choices.”
Later, Jonathan Gheller, the Facebook product manager for the app, told The Washington Post that he spoke to Meyer personally to express his regrets and apologized. He added that they are going to consider improvements.
“[The app] was awesome for a lot of people, but clearly in this case we brought him grief rather than joy,” Gheller told the Post. “It's valuable feedback. We can do better -- I'm very grateful he took the time in his grief to write the blog post.”
image of Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan courtesy of INFphoto.com