[Air-L] Facebook researchers: how do you get a list of users who like a page?
Deen Freelon
dfreelon at gmail.com
Mon Mar 4 21:26:15 PST 2013
Hmm, it looks like you can pull usernames and IDs of likers for FB
objects other than pages (e.g. statuses, photos, etc.). But unless I'm
missing something in the documentation, it looks like all it offers for
pages is the total N of likes. Weird. ~DEEN
On 3/4/2013 4:41 PM, Andrew Roback wrote:
> 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
> <mailto: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
> <mailto: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 <mailto:amnewell at utexas.edu>
> >
> > On Sun, Mar 3, 2013 at 5:24 PM, Andrew Roback
> <andrew.roback at gmail.com <mailto: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 <mailto:amnewell at utexas.edu>>
> > _______________________________________________
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>
>
>
> --
> Andrew J. Roback
> Ph.D. Candidate in Technical Communication
> Illinois Institute of Technology
> http://andrewroback.com
--
Deen Freelon, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
American University School of Communication
Office: Asbury 228A
dfreelon at gmail.com
http://dfreelon.org
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