Reflection

Overall, I found this "social experiment" to be relatively successful given the small sample size that is my Facebook circle. As expected, I received a lot of confused responses regarding the macabre nature of my profile picture. However, those who responded were mostly my close friends who did so in private and expressed alarm at my sudden change in disposition. The rest of my Facebook community seemed to pass over the "controversial" picture entirely, or give passive support in the form of a "like." Thus, I conclude that most of the people who browse or use Facebook tend to avoid engaging in controversial topics or any content that is not immediately clear, supporting my generalization that people on Facebook try to moderate or filter their opinions in a way that reaches and satisfies as wide of an audience as possible. If I were to repeat this experiment, I would try to give my profile picture as much exposure as possible, as I imagine with my relative inactivity on Facebook, most of my posts go unnoticed. Consequently, I was not able to gather enough data on the reactions of peers who do not know me as well.