Facebook Watches ‘Self Censorship,’ i.e. ‘Deleted Posts’ Because Money

So you get pissed at some friend’s ignorant, insensitive comment on Facebook and type out a long, tl;dr diatribe in response. As you’re eyeballing “Post,” better angels settle in and you decide to let it go. You backspace it into oblivion instead of publishing it, and you get all the catharsis feels. You didn’t lose your temper, your friendship is preserved, and no one is any wiser, right?

Ha ha silly naive person. Facebook totally saves those.

According to a report in Slate, Facebook is very interested in “self-censorship” and wants to know why we choose to do it. Even though the answer to that question is “because common sense,” the social networking giant still keeps track because of the cheddar they lose when you decide against a post.

Seriously, that’s exactly what the two guys at Facebook in charge of studying “self-censorship” said. Facebook “loses value from the lack of content generation,” once again demonstrating that what’s good for social networks isn’t necessarily good for your social life.