How to friend suggestion on facebook

How Does Facebook Suggested Friends Actually Work?

Facebook's ‘People you may know’ is a phrase that seems harmless, if a bit formal - ‘Oh come to this party! There’ll be loads of people you may know there!’ - but in the last few years it’s become synonymous with that creepily accurate Suggested Friends carousel featuring people who yes, you do know but, my god, how does Facebook KNOW you know them?! Is Mark Zuckerberg actually a wizard? Or more pertinently, what is the basis for Facebook suggested friends? Is it stalking? Is it based on profile views? What exactly does it mean?

Facebook’s official line on this, on their help page, explains that they make selections for your Suggested Friends based on ‘mutual friends, work and education information, networks you’re part of, contacts you’ve imported and many other factors’. It’s the ‘other factors’ that are the most interesting, considering how goddamn vague they are - especially when a suggested friend crops up, and you have no mutual friends in common. ..

Who is in my Facebook suggested friends and why?

Just having a brief scan over my own current suggested friends, there are at least three people there that I haven’t met, I’ve never worked with, we didn’t go to the same school, I have no mutual friends with and they’re not in my contacts. One of them is someone I’m fairly sure, after doing a quick search on other social media sites, is currently seeing my ex. So why is she being suggested?! Is this to do with the ‘other factors’ Facebook mentions? I don’t know her! Were we once in the same cafe? Has she, completely understandably, been stalking me? Have we finally found the definitive answer to how you can tell when people have looked at my profile?!

What is Facebook suggested friends algorithm - what is it based on?

So many questions, and so many conspiracy theories. Thankfully, I’ve done the manic researching, so when that guy you slept with who never whatsapped back and you can’t stop thinking about pops up on your suggested friends, you don’t have to.

Are your suggested friends based on your location?

In one of the best cases of 'ER, NO I DIDN’T MEAN THAT, SHUT IT DOWN' Facebook revealed in 2016 that location data was one of the factors in suggested potential friends, before days later retracting it and saying they absolutely didn’t. Cool.

There were a number of slightly worrying reports of how eerily accurate the supposed algorithm is; ‘Seriously, I’ve had enough reporters ask me, freaked out, why Facebook is recommending their protected sources’ tweeted Violet Blue, a reporter on cybercrime.

If true, it also means that Facebook uses similar technology to the NSA.

During an investigation, [Fusion](/wp-admin/(http:/fusion.net/story/319108/facebook-phone-location-friend-suggestions/) found a load of anecdotal evidence pointing towards location services being used. One example was a man who had attended an anonymous gathering for suicidal teenagers, and had then seen one of the teenagers he didn’t have any contact with other than being in the same place, popped up as a suggested friend. They approached Facebook who said: ‘Location information by itself doesn’t indicate that two people might be friends, that’s why location is only one of the factors we use to suggest people you may know.’

When Fusion had published an article, understandably, explaining how this is a privacy mess - Facebook immediately retracted it. The statement was changed to the fact that location services had been trialled a year earlier, but weren’t one of the very vague ‘other factors’ described on the help site.

The journalist in question described ‘repertorial whiplash - I’ve never had a spokesperson confirm and then retract a story so quickly.’

One way to stop any apps using your location is to change the location settings on your phone, or get rid of the Facebook app and use it on good ole Safari. Other browsers are available.

Are your suggested friends based on who has looked at your profile?

There is no hard evidence that someone else’s activity affects your page - and a Facebook employee was fairly clear on their stance in a recent Quora thread:

Thanks for your illuminating and rich response, Peter. But I find it difficult to believe that, when trying to create the perfect suggested friends list, Zuckerberg wouldn’t have wanted algorithm kick into gear when you search for someone, or if someone searches for you. Because that’s the purest way it can tell if you want to be friends, surely? Plus, there are just too many anecdotes to ignore.

‘I recently viewed someone who I haven’t been in touch with for many years and who I didn’t want to be in touch with,’ says one anonymous user on Quora. ‘Two weeks later I had a friend request from that person. I have no common friends and this person is far removed in my network of friends. Unless this person suddenly remembered me after almost twenty years since I have contacted them, then I have no other explanation.’

In a recent Vice investigation into how this suggested friend list happens, David Liben-Nowell, a computer science professor at Carleton College who studies the structure and evolution of social networks said:

‘My hunch is that [Facebook is] using names you've searched for or profiles you've viewed to suggest friends to you. It would almost be silly for them not to: if you've shown an interest in a person while using Facebook, then you've as good as told Facebook that you might want to have some kind of relationship with them.’

Agreed - it does make a whole lot of sense, if they’re trying to make the friends they suggest as accurate as possible. And there’s also some fairly compelling evidence pointing to the fact that [the friend grid works off the basis of who is looking at your profile](/wp-admin/(http:/www.thedebrief.co.uk/news/real-life/facebook-stalking-is-officially-over-heres-why-20150440740), so why not suggested friends? I mean, that makes even more sense, if you think about it.

Are your suggested friends based on your phone contacts?

This one is a definite yes. In one of the many app updates, you will have inadvertently synced all your phone contacts to Messenger. And if you’ve allowed Facebook to sync your phone contacts, then it’s going to suggest you connect to them online. It can be freaky, though, if you don’t realise you’ve put people in your contacts because you’re drunk, then they get suggested back at you.

‘Somehow my suggested friends list is always chicks I have had one night stands with,’ says a Reddit user who says words like ‘chicks’. ‘Facebook somehow looks through my contacts on my phone and uses their phone numbers to suggest it. It's kinda creepy when you see a girl who you met one time and didn't even know her last name, but somehow they are suggested for you.’

An easy way of getting rid of this via the Facebook app on your phone - go to settings, and scroll down until you see ‘Sync Contacts’. Hit ‘remove Facebook’. Done. Removed.

And check out the box that comes up as you’re about to remove the contacts:

‘If you choose to remove your imported contacts, friend suggestions for you and your friends may become less relevant’. YEAH MATE. THAT’S SORT OF WHAT I WANT COS YOU’RE CREEPING ME THE F OUT.

Are Facebook friends suggestions based on other third party apps like Tinder?

The official line on this is no. In fact, it couldn’t be any more a ‘no’ if they tried, as they state on site: ‘We do not use cookies from third-party sites to generate or rank People You May Know’. Well there you are then.

However, if you’re getting a bit freaked out by the fact that Tinder matches/people you’ve Bumbled have suddenly started cropping up, then you’re not alone - it’s been a bit of a recent thing. And if you don’t have their number in your phone, then how the hell do they know this if they AREN’T getting it through Tinder?

Well, it’s likely that your Tinder match will have also tried to stalk you on Facebook, although remember Facebook claim they don’t suggest friends who search your name.

But the other, less speculative, solution is that you have their number on your Whatsapp contacts. Because Whatsapp bought Facebook, so if you’ve been ‘sapping, and you haven’t un-synced your Facebook contacts (as above), then do that immediately.

Exhausting, isn’t it?

Can you turn off or remove Facebook suggested friends?

Yes - indirectly. If you block someone, then they won’t show up on your suggested friends list. So if you have any particularly triggering people from your past, then it might be worth taking a deep breath, having a dram of whisky (or, like, a glass of juice) and doing the deed.

Oh, and you know how you can specify people who you don’t want to come up in that horrific On This Day feature? They won’t come up in your suggested friends either - which might be a good idea if you don’t want to all-out block someone, you just don’t want them popping up all the time.

You're welcome.

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How Facebook “Suggested Friends” Actually Works

In a bid to get its users more connected, Facebook has a feature called “suggested friends” and in this guide, we’ll tell you how it actually works…

If you’ve been on Facebook during the last 12 months, you’ll have seen the “suggested friends” feature. You get a notification alert, you click on it, and Facebook has a suggested friend for you.

But how does this feature actually work? Do you have to know the person? Or is it just a random guess generated by Meta’s sprawling algorithm? More importantly, can you “game” this feature to appear
inside more people’s “suggested friends” list?

How Facebook’s “Suggested Friends” Feature Works

Officially, Meta’s stance on how Facebook’s suggested friends feature goes a little something like this: you must A) have friends in common, B) have similar and/or complimentary profile or network information, or C) have similar interests and/or activity on Facebook, either in groups or from being tagged in a photo and/or location.

That’s the official explanation of how suggested friends works on Facebook but in my experience – granted, it’s pretty limited; I seldom use Facebook anymore – there is more to this feature than Facebook is letting on in its official description of how it works.

When Suggested Friends Gets Creepy

Here’s an example, from Reddit, of one guy’s experience with Facebook’s suggested friends.

The first thing was weird was that it suggested to me the facebook page of my SO who made a facebook once a few years ago and then abandoned the account and hasn’t been on the site since. We met on OkCupid, and we don’t have any mutual friends. I do have some pictures with her, so maybe it did its face recognition thing?
Weirder was earlier today when it suggested I add a girl I add been on one date with a year ago, whom I’d never contacted on facebook, have no photos with, and whom I couldn’t even remember the name of until facebook just told me. We don’t even live in the same state.
I’ve never used any sort of facebook or okcupid app on my phone, the only thing I can think of is that facebook was digging into my okcupid account and looking for people I’d messaged? But then I haven’t had an okcupid account since October.
REDDIT USER

As he points out in the post, Facebook is seemingly making connections between him and other people without actually having the requisite information to do so which leads to the obvious question: how is Facebook doing this?

One theory and I do think this is the most plausible, is that Facebook uses your search history on Facebook to make suggestions for suggested friends, so, in the above example, if the guy did a Facebook search for the girl he’d just been on a date with – regardless of whether it was a year or three years ago – Facebook will know and have this information.

An algorithm never forgets, all it does is grow and evolve, learning more and more about you. In this context, all the algorithm is doing is pulling information about a user from its bank of data and using it to create what it thinks are meaningful connections inside suggested friends.

Theories About How Facebook’s Suggested Friends Works

Phone Numbers

Another theory about how suggested friends works revolves around phone numbers. Say you give someone your phone number, perhaps you met in a bar or when on a date.

If that person uses their number on Facebook, Meta will continually scan their contacts list for new connections. Once it finds a new contact, in this case, you, Meta’s algorithm has your details and it will add you to the other person’s suggested friends list.

Canvas Fingerprinting

Another theory revolves around the idea of “canvas fingerprinting” which is a method for tracking users online without cookies. Now, this is pure speculation but a company the size of Meta is almost certainly using a raft of tracking technology to monitor its users, so it stands to reason that it might also be using its own proprietary version of canvas fingerprinting.

But what is canvas fingerprinting anyway? Here’s a quick overview:

Canvas fingerprinting gets its name because it instructs web browsers to draw a hidden image, and each computer produces a slightly different, unique image. Like a fingerprint. A creepy fingerprint that wants to follow you online.
Once your browser draws the hidden picture, the information is relayed to the website. It uses your unique image to assign a number to your computer and develop a user profile to better sell targeted ads. Canvas fingerprinting was invented in 2012, and a company called AddThis developed code used in 95 percent of the cases.
Gizmodo

If Facebook is using some kind of version of this technology, it could well use it to start making connections between two, disparate accounts. Again, this is just a theory – Meta has never confirmed this – although we do know that Facebook, like Google, does use fingerprinting techniques to track and analyze its users.

You Both Viewed One Another’s Profile

One of the simplest ways suggested friends might work relates to how you actually interact with Facebook. Here’s an example: say you randomly remember someone from school, so you do a Facebook search to see if they have a profile. If you find them and go onto their profile but do not add them, Facebook’s algorithm will make a note of this.

Now, say the person you looked for has the same idea: they remember you and then do the same thing, search for your profile, click on it, but they don’t add you. The algorithm will assume you’re both interested in one another, but are being shy or whatever, and set out to make the connection happen by adding you to their suggested friends list and vice versa.

For instance, prior to writing this article, based on a hunch, I decided to see if I could alter how suggested friends works by searching for and visiting a few profiles of people that I know but are not connected to on Facebook. I waited a few days and, sure enough, a few of them popped up in my suggested friends list.

Facebook is Spying On Your All The Time

There’s a popular belief that, by having Facebook installed on your phone, you’re being tracked 24/7, 365 days a year. This theory posits that Facebook uses your phone’s microphone to listen to you, your camera to spy on you, and your phone’s GPS to know where you are at all times, as well as when you interact with other Facebook users.

Facebook – sorry, Meta – has emphatically denied that it does this. But there are still thousands of reports online that suggest the contrary. I mean, check out this little ditty from one Reddit user:

Something even more creepy happened to me today. I met a girl at the club last night. We had a pretty short conversation. I didn’t even get her real name. Just a nickname. The next morning when I first opened my FB she popped up as a friend suggestion. First on the list. It sent chills down my spine. I don’t know her from before. We don’t have mutual friends. I never searched her on FB since I have nothing on her. I dont use FB on my phone. I dont do check ins. It is possible that she searched me, but I don’t believe she got my name either. It was just too loud at the club. However this is the only plausible explanation since this kind of targeted suggestion goes beyond the reach of FB data crawlers.(I assume). Other explanations would be too far fetched, even for my taste of weird.
REDDIT

Or, this one:

Something similar happened to me, I hooked up with this guy while on vacations, we don’t have mutual friends, he’s from another state, I didn’t have his number but for some reason he appeared as a “suggested friend”. Weird.
REDDIT

Of course, these are Reddit users we’re talking about here, so all bets are off when it comes to the legitimacy of these claims. But if we play devil’s advocate here, there might well be something going on – something that isn’t listed in Meta’s official stance on how it tracks and monitors its users.

I mean, this is Meta we’re talking about here, not some small startup. It almost certainly has exotic technologies employed on its platform that aren’t publicly known. Much of this can – and is – explained away as “just stuff the algorithm does” but an algorithm is only as good as the data set it is fed.

The bigger question here, then, is perhaps what technologies does Meta use to build up its data profiles? We know the ones it officially uses, but are there “other” less official technologies in place? My best guess would be that, yes, Meta does use exotic proprietary tracking and monitoring tech but we probably won’t know about them until the next Cambridge Analytica-style scandal drops.

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Richard Goodwin

Richard Goodwin has been working as a tech journalist for over 10 years. He is the editor and owner of KnowYourMobile.

How do I invite my friends to like or follow a Facebook Page or profile?

Help Center

Using Facebook

Pages

We're updating the mobile version of Facebook. com. More

You can invite your friends to Like or Follow the Page, and follow your Facebook profile. If you want your followers to be able to invite their friends to follow your profile, you must turn on pro mode. nine0003

To invite friends to like your Page:

Classic mobile version

Click the icon in the upper right corner of the Facebook window.

Click Pages and navigate to the one you want.

Select the Community section at the top of the Page. If this section doesn't exist, swipe the sections at the top of the Page to the left (for example, Home, Info) until you see the Community section.

Click Invite Friends. nine0003

Click Invite next to the friend's name.

New version for mobile browser

Click the icon in the upper right corner of the Facebook window.

Click Pages and navigate to the one you want.

Click Invite Friends.

Click on the circle next to a friend's name. nine0003

Click Send invitations.

To invite friends to follow your profile:

Navigate to the desired profile.

Click the icon below the cover photo.

Click Invite Friends.

Select the friends you want to send invitations to.

Click Send invitations at the bottom of the screen.

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how to hide likes and comments from your Facebook friends, new method

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How do I prevent my friends' likes or comments from showing up on my Facebook News Feed?

If you don't want to see messages from a certain friend or about a certain topic in your Facebook News Feed, there are a few things you can do.
To stop seeing messages from a specific friend, go to their profile and click the "Follow" button. From there, you can choose to “Unsubscribe,” which will prevent their posts from appearing in your News Feed. nine0003

Can someone stop you from seeing what they like on Facebook?

Yes, someone can stop you from seeing what they like on Facebook. If they've set their privacy settings to Friends Only, you'll only be able to see what they've liked if you're friends with them on Facebook.

Can you hide someone's likes on Facebook?

Yes, you can hide someone's likes on Facebook. To do this, go to the person’s profile and click on the three dots in the upper right corner of the “Like” section. From there, select "Hide". nine0003

How can I hide my likes?

You can't hide your likes on Facebook. However, you can control who can see your likes by changing your privacy settings. To do this, go to the top right corner of Facebook and click on the down arrow. Then select "Settings". From there, select “Privacy” and then “Change Settings.” Under "Who can see my content?" select "Only me".

Can my friends see what I like on Facebook 2021? nine0003

Yes, in 2021 your friends will be able to see what you like on Facebook. By default, post likes are set to public privacy. This means that anyone who can see your profile can also see the posts you like. You can change this setting to “private” so that only your friends can see your likes, or you can just hide them from your timeline.

Why are Facebook stories showing up in News Feed? nine0003

Facebook Stories appear in the News Feed because it's a new way for users to share content. Stories are a way to share photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours. They are similar to Snapchat stories.

How to stop the news in the news feed?

There is no clear way to prevent articles from appearing in your Facebook News Feed. However, you can try some of the following methods:
Hide the story by clicking the down arrow in the upper right corner of the post and selecting “Hide Story”. nine0123 Unfollow a friend or page. by going to their profile and clicking on the “Following” button. This will remove all of their posts from your News Feed.

How can I manage my Facebook feeds?

There are several ways to manage your Facebook feeds. You can change your notification settings, hide messages from certain friends or pages, or unsubscribe from certain channels. To change notification settings, go to "Settings" and click "Notifications". From there, you can choose which notifications you want to receive and which ones to turn off. nine0003

How do I remove the Facebook algorithm?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as the best way to remove the Facebook algorithm depends on your personal Facebook usage habits. However, some tips on how to minimize the Facebook algorithm include: be mindful of what you share and like on the platform, use Facebook less often, and interact with fewer people.

How can I do this? turn off suggested stories on facebook 2021? nine0003

To turn off suggested stories on Facebook, first open the Facebook app. Then click on the three lines in the top left corner of the app and select "Settings". Scroll down and select News Feed Settings. In the section “Who sees your posts?” click "Advanced settings". Finally, under Suggested Stories, turn off the toggle.

Is it possible to disable stories on Facebook?

Yes, you can disable stories on Facebook. To do this, click on the three lines in the upper right corner of the Facebook home page and select "Settings". In the News Feed Settings section, you can turn off Show Stories in News Feed. nine0003

Why am I getting recommended Facebook stories?

There are several reasons why you might see suggested stories in your Facebook feed. One possibility is that Facebook uses algorithms to guess which articles and posts you might be interested in and then suggest them to you. Another possibility is that you recently interacted with a friend or organization that shared content on Facebook, and the site is using that interaction to suggest similar content to you. nine0003

How do I stop receiving notifications from Facebook Stories?

To stop receiving notifications from Facebook stories, you can either turn off this feature on your phone or computer, or unsubscribe from story notifications. On your phone, you can turn off notifications for stories by going to Settings > Notifications > Facebook > and turning off notifications for stories. On your computer, you can unsubscribe from story notifications by clicking the "Subscriptions" tab on the left side of the News Feed and then unchecking the box next to "Stories". nine0003

How do I stop receiving status updates from my friends?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as the best way to stop receiving status updates from your friends may vary depending on the social media platform you use. However, some tips on how to reduce or disable notifications for various platforms are as follows:
For Facebook:
To stop receiving notifications of all updates from your friends, go to "Settings" and click in the "Notifications" section.