Techno-social engineering (TSE) theory argues that digital platforms shape and program human behaviors. We provide empirical evidence of this theory by introducing a novel method to conduct in-network studies on Facebook. We manipulate Facebook’s birthday notification system by recruiting confederates to change their birthday to a randomly assigned date and then measure network members’ responses in terms of whether they leave a greeting or question the veracity of the date. TSE theory leads us to expect that more participants will wish happy birthday on the fake date than question its veracity. We explore variables expected to predict heterogeneity in terms of response: prior birthday wish behavior, friends in common between the confederate and participant, and tie strength. All variables are associated with an increased likelihood of responding to the stimulus; however, none of these variables predict how individuals respond. Even participants who knew the confederate’s birthday and tracked it off-line were still tricked by the stimulus. Results offer empirical evidence supporting TSE theory and provide a new method for studying human–computer interaction.

技术社会工程学（TSE）理论认为，数字平台可以塑造和编程人类行为。我们通过引入一种在Facebook上进行网络内研究的新颖方法，为该理论提供了经验证据。我们通过招募同盟将他们的生日改为随机分配的日期来操纵Facebook的生日通知系统，然后根据他们是否打招呼或质疑日期的真实性来衡量网络成员的反应。TSE理论使我们期望更多的参与者希望在假日期生日快乐，而不是质疑其真实性。我们探讨了预期会在响应方面预测异质性的变量：以前的生日愿望行为，同盟者和参与者之间的共同朋友以及领带强度。所有变量都与对刺激作出反应的可能性增加有关。但是，这些变量都无法预测个人的反应。即使是知道同盟国生日并离线跟踪同盟国生日的参与者，也仍然受到刺激的欺骗。结果提供了支持TSE理论的经验证据，并为研究人机交互提供了一种新方法。