Facebook - People you may know function

[D1024]

I am hoping the forum expertise will be able to answer something interesting I have noticed going on with my Facebook account. Now let me just state that I am not a fan of Facebook for a number of reasons and only currently have an account because some special interest groups I follow are pure Facebook based now. I have made my account as private as I possibly can and I have zero ‘Friends’. Even my wife has been unable to find me on there!

Every now and then in an idle moment I flick through the people who Facebook ‘think’ I may know – usually I haven’t a clue about most although some are indeed real world friends, acquaintances or colleagues. Just recently though I have noticed something quite interesting (or disturbing possibly!). Over the last 2 years I have met a fair number of Forum members at meets, meals and walks, although with one or 2 exceptions our online correspondence has always been through this forum whether it be though the conversation feature or more generally in threads.

What is now happening is that an increasing number of forum members I have met personally have started to appear in my Facebook ‘people I may know’ page. How does Facebook believe that I may know (for example) @ainsworth74 or @Mojo? I have met both of those people but as far as I am aware we have never communicated outside of this Forum so how/where does Facebook make the connection between us?

Perplexing, and as much out of curiosity as anything would love to know how its doing that!

 

[gswindale]

I could be wrong, but I suspect it is all down to algorithms.

For instance, I keep getting suggestions of people who work at a certain company. I believe we all "like" the company's FB page and so it sees that connection.

 

[tomuk]

I am hoping the forum expertise will be able to answer something interesting I have noticed going on with my Facebook account. Now let me just state that I am not a fan of Facebook for a number of reasons and only currently have an account because some special interest groups I follow are pure Facebook based now. I have made my account as private as I possibly can and I have zero ‘Friends’. Even my wife has been unable to find me on there!

Every now and then in an idle moment I flick through the people who Facebook ‘think’ I may know – usually I haven’t a clue about most although some are indeed real world friends, acquaintances or colleagues. Just recently though I have noticed something quite interesting (or disturbing possibly!). Over the last 2 years I have met a fair number of Forum members at meets, meals and walks, although with one or 2 exceptions our online correspondence has always been through this forum whether it be though the conversation feature or more generally in threads.

What is now happening is that an increasing number of forum members I have met personally have started to appear in my Facebook ‘people I may know’ page. How does Facebook believe that I may know (for example) @ainsworth74 or @Mojo? I have met both of those people but as far as I am aware we have never communicated outside of this Forum so how/where does Facebook make the connection between us?

Perplexing, and as much out of curiosity as anything would love to know how its doing that!

Have you communicated by phone? I've had friend suggestions where the only way the site could have known is the suggested friend already had my mobile in their phone.

 

[Bletchleyite]

One thing that does populate it is if the other person looks you up. Not saying they have, but it is a less "conspiracy" answer than suggesting FB is listening to your conversations in person or something.

You also get suggestions randomly for friends of friends, I find.

 

[SouthernR]

I use Facebook in a similar limited way. I do not know most of my friend suggestions, but I have a common name. When I first signed up, Facebook immediately suggested my nephew who lives nearly 200 miles away and has a different surname. I assume it made a connection through email contact lists, although at the time, we weren't in the habit of using emails.

 

[Bertie the bus]

Maybe Mark Zuckerberg was hiding behind a bush on one of these forums walks. Perhaps more likely is as you say you are a member of numerous special interest Facebook groups the algorithm probably sees others who are members of more than x number of those groups and tries to pair you.

 

[tomuk]

Maybe Mark Zuckerberg was hiding behind a bush on one of these forums walks. Perhaps more likely is as you say you are a member of numerous special interest Facebook groups the algorithm probably sees others who are members of more than x number of those groups and tries to pair you.

Not hiding in a bush but Facebook can collect location data* from your phone so if you all meet up it will know.

*Of this depends on how strict or lax you are with the various app\website\phone privacy settings.

 

[D1024]

Have you communicated by phone?

No.

You also get suggestions randomly for friends of friends, I find.

Yes I am aware of the friend of friends linking but in this case I have no friends

Perhaps more likely is as you say you are a member of numerous special interest Facebook groups the algorithm probably sees others who are members of more than x number of those groups and tries to pair you.

A possibility - though I am not a member of 'numerous' groups - its single digit numbers and the majority of them are local groups to my area in North East Scotland and I am pretty sure the 2 Forum names I mentioned in my original posting are not in those groups, though they could be friend of a friend of a friend of course !

Not hiding in a bush but Facebook can collect location data* from your phone so if you all meet up it will know.

That's very interesting and I didn't know that - I usually have Location off but on Forum (or any other longer walks) I turn it on for my Walk Tracking App to function. Seems a very plausible explanation of whats happening - Thanks!

 

[Feuillesmortes]

with one or 2 exceptions our online correspondence has always been through this forum

Those 2 people probably allow Facebook and Whatsapp to access their address book, containing your phone number and/or email address.

Other people from that address book can then be suggested to you, especially if you have common interests.

If you look at the "Off-Facebook Activity" feature, you will see how other companies feed back data about you to Facebook, helping them build a profile, including common interests. This helps them sell ads to you.

 

[Russel]

I find the 'People you may know' feature to be mostly people I try to avoid in real life.

I would happily delete Facebook right now but as with most in this thread, I use it for special interest groups.

 

[bleeder4]

Most of my "people you may know" suggestions are friends of friends. However I once had one pop up and I recognised him from the profile pic as being a chap sitting at a nearby table to me in a restaurant I dined at a few days earlier. We both exchanged a few polite words in the restaurant but otherwise had no connection to each other at all. I could see from his profile we had no mutual friends at all. So Facebook must have collected location data and had suggested him to me as we were both in the same restaurant. I possibly made a mistake as I actually "checked in" to the restaurant on Facebook when I was there. No idea if he did though.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Most of my "people you may know" suggestions are friends of friends. However I once had one pop up and I recognised him from the profile pic as being a chap sitting at a nearby table to me in a restaurant I dined at a few days earlier. We both exchanged a few polite words in the restaurant but otherwise had no connection to each other at all. I could see from his profile we had no mutual friends at all. So Facebook must have collected location data and had suggested him to me as we were both in the same restaurant. I possibly made a mistake as I actually "checked in" to the restaurant on Facebook when I was there. No idea if he did though.

I'd be astonished if "checking in" wasn't used for that purpose.

A curious one I've had come up is the previous owner of my house, who I've never had anything in common with directly other than having met him once during the first viewing and having chucked a load of his post into the post box as return to sender. I suspect that was probably location related, that or he searched for me for some reason, perhaps curiosity. Obviously when buying a house everything tends to go through solicitors, I don't believe I ever corresponded directly with him in any form other than that one meeting.

 

[bleeder4]

One thing that does populate it is if the other person looks you up. Not saying they have, but it is a less "conspiracy" answer than suggesting FB is listening to your conversations in person or something.

You also get suggestions randomly for friends of friends, I find.

Facebook does actually listen to conversations though. I have had conversations with people about certain topics. I have never searched those topics, only ever discussed them verbally, yet shortly after the conversation I see a "sponsored ad" for that very thing I've just been talking about. Most recent example was Drayton Manor Park. Had a conversation with a random person on the train about how she'd just been there with her kids and I was telling her how I remember going there when I was a kid. Next day I see a sponsored ad for Drayton Manor Park.

 

[northwichcat]

If you look at someone's profile (including their train or bus pictures) or someone looks at yours then Facebook's algorithm may suggest you'd like to become Facebook friends.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Facebook does actually listen to conversations though. I have had conversations with people about certain topics. I have never searched those topics, only ever discussed them verbally, yet shortly after the conversation I see a "sponsored ad" for that very thing I've just been talking about. Most recent example was Drayton Manor Park. Had a conversation with a random person on the train about how she'd just been there with her kids and I was telling her how I remember going there when I was a kid. Next day I see a sponsored ad for Drayton Manor Park.

It doesn't do anything of the sort. It'll do it other ways, such as people you're connected with (in space or as friends) searching for the thing that was discussed.

It is possible for the likes of Siri and Alexa to do that if a trigger word is inadvertently used, or something sounding like one. I have my Alexas set to make a sound when triggered so I know when they're properly listening.

Your phone shows you when anything other than the built-in voice assistant is using the microphone.

 

[gg1]

I use FB purely for group memberships and have no FB 'friends' and only the bare minimum of info on my profile page (name and a fairly generic profile image).

For a good 6 months in 2020/21, at least 80% of my 'people you may know' suggestions were for people living on the Isle of Skye or the areas of the Scottish mainland adjacent to it. I've never lived within 400 miles of Skye, I know no one who lives there and none of the groups I'm a member of are even specific to Scotland, let along Skye.

Currently the suggestions seem to be totally random, people from all across the world with nothing in common with me.

 

[Bletchleyite]

For a good 6 months in 2020/21, at least 80% of my 'people you may know' suggestions were for people living on the Isle of Skye or the areas of the Scottish mainland adjacent to it. I've never lived within 400 miles of Skye, I know no one who lives there and none of the groups I'm a member of are even specific to Scotland, let along Skye.

This sounds location-related. Because of the way ISPs share IP addresses around, very often your computer thinks it's somewhere totally different to where it actually is, or at least a website does unless you share your Windows location with it. For instance my work machine thinks I'm in Glasgow, and I keep getting Glasgow specific adverts on LBC on the Alexa so I think that thinks I'm there too and is giving me the Scottish version of LBC rather than the London one. (Same programmes but different advertising).

 

[northwichcat]

It doesn't do anything of the sort. It'll do it other ways, such as people you're connected with (in space or as friends) searching for the thing that was discussed.

It is possible for the likes of Siri and Alexa to do that if a trigger word is inadvertently used, or something sounding like one. I have my Alexas set to make a sound when triggered so I know when they're properly listening.

Your phone shows you when anything other than the built-in voice assistant is using the microphone.

I've had a similar experience but I don't believe Facebook was listening. In my case I had an SMS conversation with someone on a mental health issue. After that the person I was communicating with added me as a friend on Facebook. I then started getting targeted ads relating to mental health.

However,

1. I had shared a post about a missing person on Facebook prior to that.
2. The person I had accepted the friend request from was a member of a wellness and mental health groups.
3. A former work colleague, who had worked as a sales assistant, had retrained as a mental health advisor. She was also a Facebook friend.

So lots of possible reasons for the coincidence of the Facebook ads matching a SMS conversation.

 

[johnnychips]

I stay on FB to see what my friends in Belgium are doing, and have deleted as many English friends as possible. They don’t know you’ve deleted them at the time, but then you will start appearing on their ‘friend suggestion’, so they get the monk on you’ve deleted them!

So instead I use the “snooze X for 30 days” function, which avoids endless pictures of babies, grandchildren being cute and/or inspirational memes.

 

[Falcon1200]

One of the 'people you may know' suggestions I regularly get is a former work colleague who sadly died at least ten years ago. Presumably no-one has ever closed his FB account ?

 

[baz962]

I had a new suggestion/advert last night. I'm on holiday near Blackpool in a rental house. My wife puts on a TV program on a service called freevee. Never heard of, let alone used this service or the particular program before. I scroll Facebook and an advert for the exact program on this freevee service pops up while we are watching it.

 

[northwichcat]

One of the 'people you may know' suggestions I regularly get is a former work colleague who sadly died at least ten years ago. Presumably no-one has ever closed his FB account ?

I know a page of someone deceased can be changed to an 'in memoriam' page. There is now an option that you can nominate someone who can get admin access to your page if you pass away. If you don't do that I'm not sure how easy it is for a page to be deleted or converted to an 'in memoriam' page.

I had a new suggestion/advert last night. I'm on holiday near Blackpool in a rental house. My wife puts on a TV program on a service called freevee. Never heard of, let alone used this service or the particular program before. I scroll Facebook and an advert for the exact program on this freevee service pops up while we are watching it.

Were you logged in on Facebook on the same device that you streamed the programme on? If you allow advertising cookies then Google, Facebook and others can use the info they obtain to target adverts. I'm not sure telling you about a programme you are already watching is really effective advertising though! It's more useful if it suggested a new series on Brazil because you've previously watched Michael Palin's series on Brazil.

 

[route101]

I thought someone shows up when they have been looking at your profile. I thought that was a myth though.

 

[najaB]

How does Facebook believe that I may know (for example) @ainsworth74 or @Mojo? I have met both of those people but as far as I am aware we have never communicated outside of this Forum so how/where does Facebook make the connection between us?

Almost certainly it's down to tracking cookies.

 

[takno]

I had a new suggestion/advert last night. I'm on holiday near Blackpool in a rental house. My wife puts on a TV program on a service called freevee. Never heard of, let alone used this service or the particular program before. I scroll Facebook and an advert for the exact program on this freevee service pops up while we are watching it.

This is broadly called retargeting, which is a way of sending more ads at people who have already heard about or used your service. The original aim was to either get you to finish off a purchase you never finished, carry on using the service now that you've tried it and (maybe) quite liked it, or at least to have the name of the service stick in your mind. Seems like it worked!

It's very likely that the freevee service (I've never heard of it either) has a Facebook pixel on it. That will allow Facebook to link the service to whoever is has logged in to Facebook on the machine, the machine itself, and the internet connection the machine is using. I'd guess it's linking you because you are both using the internet connection of the rental house and therefore share an IP address.

 

[baz962]

I know a page of someone deceased can be changed to an 'in memoriam' page. There is now an option that you can nominate someone who can get admin access to your page if you pass away. If you don't do that I'm not sure how easy it is for a page to be deleted or converted to an 'in memoriam' page.



Were you logged in on Facebook on the same device that you streamed the programme on? If you allow advertising cookies then Google, Facebook and others can use the info they obtain to target adverts. I'm not sure telling you about a programme you are already watching is really effective advertising though! It's more useful if it suggested a new series on Brazil because you've previously watched Michael Palin's series on Brazil.

No. She put it on the TV that belongs to the house. I was on my phone on mobile data, not even WiFi. Quite possibly a huge coincidence, but as I said I had never heard of the service or the program. Never popped up on my Facebook before either.

This is broadly called retargeting, which is a way of sending more ads at people who have already heard about or used your service. The original aim was to either get you to finish off a purchase you never finished, carry on using the service now that you've tried it and (maybe) quite liked it, or at least to have the name of the service stick in your mind. Seems like it worked!

It's very likely that the freevee service (I've never heard of it either) has a Facebook pixel on it. That will allow Facebook to link the service to whoever is has logged in to Facebook on the machine, the machine itself, and the internet connection the machine is using. I'd guess it's linking you because you are both using the internet connection of the rental house and therefore share an IP address.

As above. It's an Amazon service by the way.

 

[takno]

No. She put it on the TV that belongs to the house. I was on my phone on mobile data, not even WiFi. Quite possibly a huge coincidence, but as I said I had never heard of the service or the program. Never popped up on my Facebook before either.


As above. It's an Amazon service by the way.

Certainly not a coincidence, but between Amazon and Facebook there's a whole world of location tracking, login tracking and networks of third party pixels that can link you.

Ah, it's the rebrand of IMDb.tv. Looks like they've moved a couple of Prime shows over, and are just spreading the desperately meagre output of Amazon Studios over even more channels. Still, a handy reminder that I need to cancel my prime subscription

 

[61653 HTAFC]

It doesn't do anything of the sort. It'll do it other ways, such as people you're connected with (in space or as friends) searching for the thing that was discussed.

It is possible for the likes of Siri and Alexa to do that if a trigger word is inadvertently used, or something sounding like one. I have my Alexas set to make a sound when triggered so I know when they're properly listening.

Your phone shows you when anything other than the built-in voice assistant is using the microphone.

If it isn't always listening, how does it hear you say the trigger word?

This why I don't have an Alexa or Google Home device, and have never activated the equivalent on my smart phone.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If it isn't always listening, how does it hear you say the trigger word?

This why I don't have an Alexa or Google Home device, and have never activated the equivalent on my smart phone.

It is listening locally for anything that sounds like the trigger word. The wider speech recognition is done online via Amazon's servers and not in the device. It doesn't send anything to Amazon's servers unless the trigger word is used.

 

[D365]

I stay on FB to see what my friends in Belgium are doing, and have deleted as many English friends as possible. They don’t know you’ve deleted them at the time, but then you will start appearing on their ‘friend suggestion’, so they get the monk on you’ve deleted them!

So instead I use the “snooze X for 30 days” function, which avoids endless pictures of babies, grandchildren being cute and/or inspirational memes.

I have never come across this. If somebody has deleted me, the first I know of it is when I stumble onto their profile through a mutual friend.

With regards to the snooze function, there is a separate function to "Unfollow" any friend. You'll remain friends, and they won't be aware that you never have to see their posts again!