[Air-L] Facebook researchers: how do you get a list of users who like a page?

[Andrew Roback]

Deen: Thanks for the tip. This still seems to be pulling likes from objects
rather than page likes (i.e. people who have clicked the like button on the
page). It may just be that this information is not provided through the API.

Angela: I have considered the privacy issues extensively, and I decided (in
accordance with my IRB approved study) that if this particular information
is publicly accessible through the API, then it is appropriate for
inclusion in my research study. That being said, if the information can't
be obtained using the official API, it's not something I personally am
interested in. As a novice to Facebook data collection, I was asking this
as a technical question to verify that I wasn't missing a way to get this
through the API, not "how do I get this information at any cost?" Perhaps I
should have stated that more clearly in my initial question.

Thanks for raising the point about different conceptions of privacy. I'm
aware of the differences between EU/UK and US privacy considerations. If we
go by the AoIR ethics working group report<http://aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdf>,
the risk to users who control their own privacy settings and what
information is available through the API is minimal and no rights or
expectations of privacy are violated. This would also conceive of the users
from the position of agency rather than as subjects, as they control
privacy settings and what information is available through the API (as Deen
pointed out above). I personally think that line of reasoning meets the
burden of deontological scrutiny, but I welcome debate on this issue.

Finally, I'm not reconstructing a list of page likes from other data (if
that was what you were implying) or using any kind of data manipulation to
derive identities or personal information. All that being said, I don't
necessarily think that information is "off limits" depending on the
particular considerations of a study, but that's a different debate all
together. I'd be happy to continue this discussion off list if you'd like
to find out more about my study and how I plan to use/report the data.

Jean: I agree completely. In my opinion, just because Facebook says user
information is "private" doesn't mean it's compromising or poses a risk for
harm. That's what the IRB process determines.

On Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 9:34 AM, Jean Burgess <je.burgess at qut.edu.au> wrote:

> Not to disagree necessarily, but I wouldn't allow Facebook's privacy (or
> data access) policies to dictate research ethics either...
>
> On 04/03/2013, at 9:56, "Angela Newell" <amnewell at utexas.edu> wrote:
>
> > I am really curious if you asked the question SHOULD I access a list of
> > users who like a certain page.  If even Facebook views the privacy of
> their
> > users and the pages that they like on Facebook as private, perhaps you
> > should consider your own research ethics. Membership lists typically
> > receive certain protections under the law--especially in the EU and UK.
> > While "likes" of a certain page are not necessarily construed as
> membership
> > lists, it would set a fascinating legal precedent for someone to try them
> > as such.
> >
> > --
> > Angela Newell, Ph.D.
> > University of Texas at Austin
> > LBJ School of Public Affairs
> > amnewell at utexas.edu
> >
> > On Sun, Mar 3, 2013 at 5:24 PM, Andrew Roback <andrew.roback at gmail.com
> >wrote:
> >
> >> Hi all,
> >>
> >> I am researching NPOs that use Facebook, and I'm trying to compile a
> >> network of users who like individual NPO FB pages. I have tried to get a
> >> list of users who like the NPO FB pages using two importers (NodeXL and
> >> netvizz), but these tools only download user-post networks and do not
> >> provide a list of all users who like the page (at least I didn't see
> that
> >> option).
> >>
> >> I recently read that Facebook restricts this option in the API due to
> >> privacy concerns<
> >>
> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3546320/how-to-list-facebook-users-who-like-a-page-or-interest
> >>> ,
> >> and I noticed that the "like" class in
> >> FQL<http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/fql/like>only
> >> returns lists for objects like posts, photos, etc.
> >>
> >> Does anyone have a tool or method for using the API to get this data?
> >>
> >> Thanks!
> >>
> >> Andrew
> >>
> >> --
> >> Andrew J. Roback
> >> Ph.D. Candidate in Technical Communication
> >> Illinois Institute of Technology
> >> http://andrewroback.com
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >
> >
> >
> > <amnewell at utexas.edu>
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>



-- 
Andrew J. Roback
Ph.D. Candidate in Technical Communication
Illinois Institute of Technology
http://andrewroback.com