Who does Mark Zuckerberg want you to vote for?

Interesting story in the paper this morning, about how Facebook increased voter turnout with a little app that reminded people to vote. Sounds like a good thing, right?  Using social media for a good cause, boosting democracy?  In fact, the LA Times version of this story gushed, "Finally, scientists have documented that spending time on Facebook isn't all about posting pictures of cute kids and running virtual farms — it can actually be useful to American society." 

Read a little further into that feel-good article and you realize:

• Facebook can easily decide which ads/apps to display to you depending on what they know about you. And that's a lot.
• Facebook knows who your friends are.  Not just the long list of people on your Friends list, but which ones you "interact with" most often.  And they are not shy about using that information to try to influence your behavior.
• Facebook knows your political leanings. So far, they're just relying on what your profile says, but don't think they are stopping there. Here's my favorite line from this article: But for future studies, the team is developing more intricate analyses, inferring political orientation from what comments users write and where they place their "likes".
• The results of this study showed that Facebook users that were "reminded by their friends" to vote were 0.4% more likely to do so. In this study, the groups that were chosen to have the voting reminder displayed were randomly assigned for research purposes. But it doesn't have to be random, does it?  Remember, Facebook knows who your best friends are and what your politics are. What if the voting reminders this year are NOT so randomly assigned?
• Oh, wait, no problem.  Facebook's spokesman says "that Facebook is committed to supporting the democratic process."  Whew, that's a relief.

supergee, I'm appropriating one of your tags. Hope you don't mind. *hee hee*