looked up a colleague

LegacyUser

Im in my early 30s and work in a professional office environment. I sometimes have small talk to a woman in another department. Quite like her but that is as far as it goes. I have no interest in an office romance and I would well imagine she would be the same anyway.

However out of curiosity last night I looked her up on facebook. I didnt "spy" or spend much time at all on her page.

Anyway, im pretty sure now my face will appear on her "friends you may know" and she will then know I was effectively spying

just feel a little bit silly now, will she think im a stalker now?

pookie82

I'm not entirely sure how the "people you may know" algorithm works and you'll see it being a topic of online debate a lot. It's possible that looking someone up does make you appear in their suggestions. That said, so does mutual friends, or being tagged in the same place at the same time, or your location settings putting you within a few metres of each other daily? Who knows how invasive FB get when deciding these things.

Don't overthink it. Quite possible she's looked at your page at some stage and will think that that's what has you in her list (IF you're even there!). Or maybe you guys are friends with mutual people. There are names in my "people you may know" list I've never looked for on Fb, I'm assuming it's based on us knowing the same people or being tagged in the same place at the same time, because I'm pretty sure most of them would have no reason whatsoever to look at my page.

Honestly? Don't worry about it. If you just went to her page once and spent a short time on it, it's possible you won't pop up at all. If you did it nightly, however, you increase your chances.

Still no way for her to "prove" you were ever looking at it though. FB decides who you "might" want to be friends with at the end of the day!

ManOfMystery

Silly FB issue wrote: »

Anyway, im pretty sure now my face will appear on her "friends you may know" and she will then know I was effectively spying

She won't. The list is comprised of people who may be linked to her in a million different ways - friend of a friend who works in the same organisation, relation of a friend who once worked in her old workplace, people who may be in the same Facebook groups, and so on. It's not a list of 'people who have looked at your Facebook page'.

Old Jakey

No way she'll know you were looking at her profile (facebook would cease to exists if you knew who was looking at your profile) and even if she did know and had a problem with that, then it would be her fault for a having a facebook page in the first place.

smarty_mcfly

Old Jakey wrote: »

No way she'll know you were looking at her profile.

Not technically true - I've been doing some experiments with Facebook and have found people with which I have absolutely no virtual connection (i.e. never emailed them, no mutual friends) appearing in my people you might know list.

The only way these people could feasibly show up on my page is if they searched for me...

So, while you will very possibly show up on her page, if you have even 1 mutual friend on Facebook, then she will probably put it down to that (if she even bothers to query it in the first place).

Worst case scenario she thinks you've looked at her page, but even that's not in any way a big deal. Just try not to act differently around her in person...

amdublin

Nah people appear on my list all the time and I never assume it is because they were looking at me.

Chances are I was scoping them lol.

And chances are she's looked at you.

One of those things about fb/the times we live in.

Wouldn't give it another thought op.

imitation

Those sites find info in all sorts of ways, if you have at least one other facebook friend in the office its probably enough to get a suggestion.

Besides who would look more strange, a person who looked at a facebook profile, maybe while jist idlely looking at lots of coworkers profiles, or a person who sees a co worker suggested and immediately assumes out of all the many possibilities that the person was looking at there profile for some sinister purpose.

Plus you looked at her public profile, thats what its there for.. if she had some hang up on people looking it would not be there.

There is no way that they can know you viewed their profile. Suggestion are generated by random, as far as I can tell, because I get ones where there's no people in common whatsoever.

tupenny

People who have looked u up do come up as suggestions. I was seeing a guy, just one date, didn't even know he was on Facebook, we had no friends in common and he popped up as a suggestion. Thought it was mad and asked him had he searched me and he said he did. There's no other way he could've been a suggestion.
Sorry OP! Doubt your colleague will care though. I certainly didn't. Human nature/ curiosity is all it is 😊

Taboola

tupenny wrote: »

People who have looked u up do come up as suggestions. I was seeing a guy, just one date, didn't even know he was on Facebook, we had no friends in common and he popped up as a suggestion. Thought it was mad and asked him had he searched me and he said he did. There's no other way he could've been a suggestion.
Sorry OP! Doubt your colleague will care though. I certainly didn't. Human nature/ curiosity is all it is 😊

You had his number saved in your phone though, yeh? Facebook as access to your contacts.

My plumber who I had not looked up on Facebook popped up on my suggested friends list after I had added him as a contact. He didn't know my surname so there's no way he could have looked me up on Facebook.

tupenny

Ah OK maybe that's it so? I didn't realize fbk had access contact numbers.. Maybe just a coincidence that he had searched me. Either way OP, I wouldn't worry about it

ted1

smarty_mcfly wrote: »

Not technically true - I've been doing some experiments with Facebook and have found people with which I have absolutely no virtual connection (i.e. never emailed them, no mutual friends) appearing in my people you might know list.

The only way these people could feasibly show up on my page is if they searched for me...

So, while you will very possibly show up on her page, if you have even 1 mutual friend on Facebook, then she will probably put it down to that (if she even bothers to query it in the first place).

Worst case scenario she thinks you've looked at her page, but even that's not in any way a big deal. Just try not to act differently around her in person...

Rubbish, you may have been in the same location at different times, you may have liked similar things or googled similar products. They don't appear because they searched for you.

smarty_mcfly

ted1 wrote: »

Rubbish, you may have been in the same location at different times, you may have liked similar things or googled similar products. They don't appear because they searched for you.

So can we take it you work in Facebook and have direct access to the algorithm which manages the section in question then?

woodchuck

ManOfMystery wrote: »

She won't. The list is comprised of people who may be linked to her in a million different ways - friend of a friend who works in the same organisation, relation of a friend who once worked in her old workplace, people who may be in the same Facebook groups, and so on. It's not a list of 'people who have looked at your Facebook page'.

This!

It's really a non-issue. I wouldn't waste any energy worrying about.

LegacyUser

ted1 wrote: »

Rubbish, you may have been in the same location at different times, you may have liked similar things or googled similar products. They don't appear because they searched for you.

Sorry but I agree with the theory that people who you have facebook stalked come up on your 'people you may know' section.
Personal example: One of my housemates had one of his friends up visiting our house for the weekend recently. I'm not facebook friends with my housemate but I searched for his friend's name on facebook (cos yes I'm a total facebook creep). It gave me a big list of profiles of people with that name, the guy in question was living in Co.Cork so I firstly clicked on a profile that had Cork, Ireland listed with it. It turned out not to be the right person (but in fact a middle aged married with kids) & I then I got bored & stopped stalking.
That middle aged married man to whom I have no connections & live on the other side of the country to is now in my 'people you may know' section on facebook.
The only thing I'm not sure of is that if he's on mine, am I on his:-/

ManOfMystery

smarty_mcfly wrote: »

So can we take it you work in Facebook and have direct access to the algorithm which manages the section in question then?

Ted1's answer is more likely to be correct though. Facebook's algorithms will includes so many variables (likes/interests/friends/location/fan pages/groups/etc) that it's nigh on impossible to say someone is in that list because they looked at your page.

I had reason to have a bit of insecurity about Facebook a year ago (turned out to be a false alarm) so set up a dud account using a separate computer at a different location. Didn't add any friends, didn't 'like' anything, didn't become a fan of any pages, used a false address, etc. Completely barebones profile with absolutely no link to my own, or any common interests.

I viewed my real profile a number of times, but that dud account is yet to appear on any "friends you may know" list. So that clearly says to me that just looking at someone's profile is not enough to put you on their list.

lazygal

When I first set up my FB account I had the friends you may know pop up and I was so embarassed by the list. Old friends I had lost contact with and didn't want to know even on social media, someone I had a terrible date with and an old college fling I had forgotten about. Whatever my settings are, I rarely see the people you may know option. I am in few private groups and accidentally click on the profiles of people in the groups fairly often, and I'm sure the same has happened to me. I never notice who's popping up as a person I may know, especially on my phone.