If you have a Facebook account, you often come across the section termed ‘ People you may know’. And surprisingly, there might be a lot of people there on the list who you may actually know- but over the last few years, it is quite synonymous with that weirdly accurate suggested friends list featuring people who you do know and where did Facebook get to have an idea about that? Is Zuckerberg and his team doing some magic? Or what exactly is the source helping to create this friend list? Is this based on the profile views or stalking? Curious to find the exact source of how does Facebook suggest friends? Keep reading this article to get an in-depth idea.
According to Facebook’s official statement on this matter, they make the selections for your list of suggested friends based on mutual friends, education and work information, contacts that you have recently imported, and other related factors. Now, these ‘other factors’ constitute the most interesting information, considering how vague they actually are, especially in situations where you find a suggested friend with no mutual friends with the person.
How does Facebook suggest Friends?
If you run a simple scan on the current suggested friends’ list on your Facebook account, there will be at least a couple of people you do not have any idea about- neither have you worked with them or met them before. There might not be a single mutual friend you share with the person. Maybe after checking on some other social media sites, you get to see that the person being suggested is dating one of your seniors from high school. Is this something related to other factors that Facebook talks about? Now is this because the person has checked into your profile which is why Facebook is hinting that he or she might be your long-lost friend or a new friend you would love to have on your friend list?!
Are the friends suggested based on your location?
Back in 2016, Facebook once mentioned that location data was a factor involved behind it’s suggested friends list. However, they withdrew their words a few dates later and completely denied it. There were quite a few worrying reports of how bizarrely accurate the suspected algorithm is. If this is true, then Facebook uses a technology similar to NSA.
During an investigation, it was found that a load of anecdotal evidence was directed toward the location services being used. When Facebook was approached with this question, they said that the location information itself does not indicate that 2 people in the same place are friends. This is why location is just one of the many factors it uses for suggesting people you may know.
When Fusion published an article pointing out how this is definitely a privacy mess, Facebook immediately reacted to it. They retracted the statement and changed it to the fact that the location services had been trailed a year before but were not one of the vague other factors mentioned on the help site. Now, if you do not want your location to be tracked by any apps, the best thing to do is simply change the location settings on your phone or uninstall the Facebook app and use it on Google safari. There are also many other browsers available for use.
Is your suggested friend list based on who has checked your profile?
There is no single real-time evidence of someone else’s activity affecting your page. And this was clearly mentioned by a Facebook employee on their recent Quora thread. Thank you for throwing light on this fact, but it is still hard to believe that Facebook doesn’t have any algorithm that can keep track of people checking on others whose profiles the searchers land up in the suggested friend list. Because this is certainly the best way to tell if you wish to be friends- Of course, then why are you interested in someone else’s profile and took all the pain to check them out?
Are your suggested friends the ones based on your phone contacts?
This is definitely yes. Even if, in one app update, you end up inadvertently syncing all the phone contacts to messenger, and in case you have let Facebook to sync all the phone contacts, then it is a sure shot answer that your suggested friends on Facebook are based on your contact list on your phone. This can be freaky in case you do not realize that you have put people accidentally and they show up as suggested friends on Facebook.
An easy method of getting rid of something like this is simply to get rid of the Facebook app on your phone. Or the other way around is avoid making the mistake of syncing the contacts on your phone with Facebook. Also, if you wish to remove your imported contacts, the friend suggestions for your friends and you become less relevant.
Are the Facebook Friends suggested based on any Third-party app that you use?
According to the official statement by Facebook, the answer is no. In fact, it could not be any more of a no if they attempted as on the site, they state, “We do not use cookies from third-party sites to generate or rank People You May Know”. And there you go Facebook! So if you have come across someone on Tinder and find them as people you may know on Facebook, do not get surprised. It can be that your Tinder match is trying to stalk you on Facebook!
But another probable speculation is they could be there on your WhatsApp contacts, and there is where Facebook got to learn about your probable friendship to show them on our Facebook probable friend list. And all this is likely since Facebook now owns WhatsApp~
Can you turn off the Facebook suggested friends list?
Indirectly yes! If someone on the list has troubled you in the past, simply block them and take a deep breath- because they are no longer going to show up on your Facebook ‘people you may know’ list.
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