Facebook "people you may know" suggestion....

Savage Tyrant

There's never anything really strange in my suggestions for "people you may know" .... Usually friends of friends or old schoolmates with any amount of mutual friends ranging from 1-2 up to 80/90 who for various reasons I dont bother adding.
Then tonight a suggestion with zero mutual friends. No similar info regarding names, school info or absolutely any online connection at all.
It is the profile of a biological uncle I only found out about a few years ago, but there is no reason that he would show up in my suggestions. He lives in a part of the country I've never been, no mutual friends, nothing. We have little to no contact even offline.
So.... Is it possible that Facebook is tracking, and suggesting him as a friend, due to him searching and viewing my profile?

Sir Arthur Daley

This is serious op.

Ihatecuddles

That's exactly it. I've had landlords come up before!

Lucifer MorningStar

You got a stalker

keith16

After Hours. AKA, Facebook Helpdesk.

Yes OP, the reality is that Facebook knows more about you, than you do yourself. Do you think that's scary? It's not. It's the product of a highly connected network of essentially "numbers" (people) and algorithms built around them. You are not special. Don't worry. Just another number with another connected number that ranks highly and therefore falls into your "suggested" bucket.

Reiketsu

The "People You May Know" list tends to only be a Who's Who list of arseholes for me tbh.

Savage Tyrant

keith16 wrote: »

After Hours. AKA, Facebook Helpdesk.

Yes OP, the reality is that Facebook knows more about you, than you do yourself. Do you think that's scary? It's not. It's the product of a highly connected network of essentially "numbers" (people) and algorithms built around them. You are not special. Don't worry. Just another number with another connected number that ranks highly and therefore falls into your "suggested" bucket.

After Hours is a pretty much any random thread type place.... If its a something you'd ask, show or tell your mates in a pub, then I'm fairly sure it'd be ok in here.

Reiketsu wrote: »

The "People You May Know" list tends to only be a Who's Who list of arseholes for me tbh.

Yup, pretty much the same here.

HurtLocker

People who look at your page come up on it. You may not know them but they know you!!!!!! Well maybe.

Micky Dolenz

FaceBook is the work of the Devil himself. The Devil, I tells ya.

Birneybau

HurtLocker wrote: »

People who look at your page come up on it. You may not know them but they know you!!!!!! Well maybe.

Liam Neeson style. He will find you, using Facebook and Google, and he will kill you.

toastedpickles

Reiketsu wrote: »

The "People You May Know" list tends to only be a Who's Who list of arseholes for me tbh.

Yeah pretty much the same for me, Or the list of who I've deleted because they're arseholes/I never really liked them anyways

Super-Rush

What will you do when you check the list and see people that you thought you were still friends with are on it?

stefan idiot jones

mauzo! wrote: »

That's exactly it. I've had landlords come up before!

You had better pay your bar bill then.

Arthur Beesley

You should agree to meet up with him. It is fairly unlikely that he is a full on psycho stalker, and even if he is, it is a risk you should be willing to take.

Duckworth_Luas

When I joined it immediately suggested a number of people that I know in real life even though I had not added any friends yet.

These people had all imported my email address or phone number before I joined.

DoozerT6

I gawked at the page of a guy I knew vaguely years ago, through a girl I went to school with. We have no mutual friends, nothing. I found his page by browsing through the friends list of another girl I'm not friends with (and have no mutual friends with) on FB. Ten minutes after I looked at his page, he sent me a friend request.....

Funny where aimless FB browsing will get you!

Funnyonion79

I've just checked my "People You May Know" list and there are loads of people on it that I have no clue who they are and we have no mutual friends in common.....how are they being suggested, I wonder...?

holystungun9

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

FaceBook is the work of the Devil himself. The Devil, I tells ya.

He even came up on my "people you may know" list.

Banjo String

If you have your uncles mobile number on your phone, and a Facebook app on your phone, voila = Facebook made the connection.

enchanted1

I've been monitoring the stupid people you may know list..... Not getting anything accomplished other than frustration. There is a person that has been on my list for a few months. Now all of a sudden they are gone from the list. So, I searched for them and clicked on the profile and the next day they appeared at the top of my list. They were there for two days and now have dropped back off. I have a little bit of suspicion that something else is going on and this is why. I searched for a friend from a LONG time ago and found him. I viewed his profile. I'm sure I showed up on his list because 3 days later I got an email from him asking if I was still using that email and how I was etc. A day after he sent the email, his name was dropped off of my list of suggestions also. It was gone for about a week. His name has showed back up. I have not looked at his profile since the initial search. Could it be that when two people both view each other's profile around the same time and don't add each other, that the list cancels each other out and that is why there is a drop off? I'm curious. I also have done the first letter of each name in the search bar. The first person I am talking about always comes up first in the list, from what I understand this is because they are searching for you? Anyone follow what I am saying?

ALSO.... I have a new phone, a Samsung Galaxy. My people you may know list is slightly different on this device. Here is what I think it a bit weird. The two people I am speaking of, when I saw their suggestions on the list, there is a little information under the name. It is not how many friends we have in common but it says - "You searched for (name). Interesting and a bit creepy? Hmmmmm

solomafioso

FRIENDFACE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rNgCnY1lPg

Buzz Killington the third

Recently I've noticed that it's somehow fleeced my contacts in my phone and it's suggesting strings of people I work with and clients.

seamus

It's more complicated than "he looked at your page", there will be a big pile of algorithms and stuff that build that list.

For example, two or three people who are friends of his, but not of yours, may look at your profile, which suggests a link of some form.

Also, if you move in similar circles - "like" the same pages or know people who "like" similar posts, etc etc.

It's all a big numbers machine, as said before. They crunch the numbers to come up with a "match" score for the two of you and if this score breaches a threshold they decide to ask you if you know this person.

I have on occasion had people pop up where I know who they are but we have no friends in common and have never spoken to eachother. But we do have some crossover in our history - e.g. schools, workplaces, clubs, etc.

Recondite49

Buzz Killington the third wrote: »

Recently I've noticed that it's somehow fleeced my contacts in my phone and it's suggesting strings of people I work with and clients.

Did it not ask you first Buzz? When I upgraded Facebook on my Android phone it asked permission to sync Contacts, I said no.

Buzz Killington the third

Recondite49 wrote: »

Did it not ask you first Buzz? When I upgraded Facebook on my Android phone it asked permission to sync Contacts, I said no.

Hey, I'm all for seeing the hot marketing intern from a client's office throwing up her holiday photos but apart from that I find it really invasive.

enchanted1

The fact that both of them fell off the list makes me think the algorithm may have noticed that both looked and didn't add so it cancelled out the suggestion? As if to say, OK, they both noticed and didn't friend so off they go...... Just a suspicion. I'm not trying to see if one of them or the other is stalking or checking me out this is just a fascination of mine. One of them has shown back up on the list suggestions and the other has not. The one that has shown back up has no friends in common, no phone number attached and the email address he would have as mine is not the one associated with my FB account. The other person, first one I spoke of, is connected only through my place of work. No phone or email.

enchanted1

Buzz Killington the third wrote: »

Recently I've noticed that it's somehow fleeced my contacts in my phone and it's suggesting strings of people I work with and clients.

Could this be because while you are at work you are all connected under the same IP address?

Buzz Killington the third

enchanted1 wrote: »

Could this be because while you are at work you are all connected under the same IP address?

Doubt it. Because it's trying to suggest my feckin mechanic and the guy who fixed my washing machine. Also a lot of people I used to work with a few years ago too.

Recondite49

seamus wrote: »

It's more complicated than "he looked at your page", there will be a big pile of algorithms and stuff that build that list.

For example, two or three people who are friends of his, but not of yours, may look at your profile, which suggests a link of some form.

Also, if you move in similar circles - "like" the same pages or know people who "like" similar posts, etc etc.

It's all a big numbers machine, as said before. They crunch the numbers to come up with a "match" score for the two of you and if this score breaches a threshold they decide to ask you if you know this person.

I have on occasion had people pop up where I know who they are but we have no friends in common and have never spoken to eachother. But we do have some crossover in our history - e.g. schools, workplaces, clubs, etc.

I think you're right Seamus, it's very scary how Orewellian it is, though it's clear that it works in the way you've already explained, so it is possible to run some interference.

Firstly I make a habit of regularly adding people who roleplay as comic book characters on Facebook e.g Clark Kent or Bruce Banner. Since these people come from all over the world and the data used on their accounts is fictional, it means my friend suggestions are an excellent mix of Marvel & DC.

When it comes to your work history and education, of course there's no obligation to fill this in but once again I enjoy throwing a proverbial spanner in the works by giving my location as Kalsan (that's in North Korea) and my education as Hogwarts - fortunately you have enough people from various walks of life saying the same thing to make sure that your personal data isn't as much use to marketing gurus. Also, it becomes that much more difficult to track you down.

Of course the best way to stay anonymous on Facebook would be to use an assumed name. Theoretically this is something which Facebook doesn't allow and they are entitled to suspend or remove accounts which they think don't represent a real person.

In practice, I have done some experimentation with various accounts in obviously fake names and provided they have a confirmed mobile phone number on file for you, it seems you can call yourself what you like.

This isn't an encouragement for others to break Facebook's rules, just an admission that I have!