Something odd about Facebook's "People You May Know" list

[BarkingGhostar]

So, maybe we should all look at profiles of 'interesting' people, claim to know them and see where it leads.

 

[HeXen]

Thanks for posting this. I know this thread is old but I've had some similar strange experiences.

I have Facebook installed on my iPhone. I did not allow Facebook access to my location, contacts. I also did not allow Facebook access to any emails I have. In fact I have a junk email that is never used for anything else, for my Facebook account.

So basically Facebook is walled off from my real world info. And, my facebook account is completely private and unsearchable, and I use a different name on the Facebook account than my real name. So there is zero association between Facebook and my real life.

So I'm traveling on a business trip, and meet a realtor out of town for some property I drove by while I had idle time. I gave the realtor my email address that is completely non-Facebook related, and I gave the realtor my Google Voice account that has nothing to do with my iPhone (only rings to Google Voice). So there is zero correlation between the realtor and any Facebook related info.

A week or two later, I see the realtor show up on my list "friends you may know"... I'm like what the hell?

Keep in mind my Facebook app does not have access to my location, my contacts, my email, nothing. The email and phone # I gave to the realtor was completely different from anything I used for Facebook. The realtor can't look me up on Facebook because I don't use my real name. The realtor and I have zero other connections. I happened to drive by a house with "open house" sign and spoke with the realtor for a few minutes, that was the only connection.

So how the hell does Facebook know there's a connection between us?

Wouldn't using a fake name..etc kind of defeat the purpose of FB?
I don't even have FB account and G+ is all fake info but makes me wonder what they know about me or what people can find of me? I would feel weird if old g/f's..etc were looking me up.

I suppose there is all sorts of ways to make connections, from your browser cookies, your IP to your searches on Google. There is also the pool of cell phone directories that obviously has your name attached.
Perhaps Google voice, your email accounts...well they would know your IP right? And perhaps a few other things when you log into their servers that provide some info at least, it slowly pieces together a picture?

What do ISP's do with your IP info? Do they sell or some other way provide who you are? Either way, it certainly appears that everything we do digitally is collected, grouped together and logged to paint a picture of you.

 

[IGBT]

My picture keeps showing up in my "people you may know" list. What's going on here?? A hiJack??

 

[Carson Dyle]

Wouldn't using a fake name..etc kind of defeat the purpose of FB?

You can't view anything on facebook without being logged in, so creating a dummy account gets you some degree of access to view profiles.

I don't even have FB account and G+ is all fake info but makes me wonder what they know about me or what people can find of me? I would feel weird if old g/f's..etc were looking me up.

They're not going to look you up if you don't have a valid account set up, but that doesn't mean that some dots won't be connected. You set up a fake account and start viewing, say, people's profiles from high school or from work, and don't be surprised to see them suggested to your fake account as possible friends, and vice versa.

I don't use facebook for social networking either, but do have a fake account set up. An interesting thing I see is that if I view someone's friends, then people who's profile I've already viewed or people who are friends of those people, get sorted to the top of the list. Every possible connection that can be made is exploited.

I suppose there is all sorts of ways to make connections, from your browser cookies, your IP to your searches on Google. There is also the pool of cell phone directories that obviously has your name attached.
Perhaps Google voice, your email accounts...well they would know your IP right? And perhaps a few other things when you log into their servers that provide some info at least, it slowly pieces together a picture?

No doubt about it. It ALL gets connected.

 

[Ric_Flair]

Would be interesting to setup a bunch of test accounts just to see how "people you may know" and other FB features work. For example if someone searches for you or views your profile will they show up in your list, or do you only show up in their list? Guessing location may play a role too, it's probably less likely to suggest someone that's in a completely different state or country.

I tried some experimenting with a friend. We set up an account and he looked at my profile, and I looked at his, we both showed up in our "People You May Know" lists. So, if you both look, you both show up in each other's lists. We tried just one of us looking but nothing happened. It happened after we both looked at each other's profiles.

I do think at times if someone looks you up (you don't have mutual friends) they come up in the PYMK list. This girl I met a couple of years ago, deleted her number years ago, she came up in my list at the very top. Either she still has my number in her phone after all these years or she looked me up.

Another girl I met on Tinder. We went out on a date and didn't plan on ever seeing her again. A couple of months later I was curious and looked her up on FB. That very same day she texted me to see how I was doing. Coincidence? I doubt it. I probably showed up in her PYMK and it gave her an excuse to contact me, or at the very least remind her of me.

I'd like to know why some people are constantly in my PYMK list. Some come and go, but there are two women who have been there a lot. One woman for at least 6 months. She disappears for a bit but then comes back. We have one mutual friend and am starting to think she is looking at my page everyday. lol.

My conclusions are this:
- If you have no mutual friends and someone appears in your People You May Know, most likely they checked out your profile or searched for you.

- If you look at someone's profile and they look at yours, mutual friends or not, you both appear in PYMK

There's also something up with the search bar results. I noticed random people coming up if I type a single letter or two letters. First it was a girl I recognized from work and then another girl. The other girl I checked her profile to see who she was and turns out she's friends with the girl from work. Maybe both were looking me up?

Other thoughts about this?

 

[bubba2016]

About 5 years ago (Just before I had joined Facebook), I was dating online and there was this one girl I was texting for about a week or so and set up a date at her place to watch a movie. The date didn't go over very well and the relationship fizzled out very quickly after that.

Now 5 years later her face mysteriously shows up in that "people you may know" list. Which itself isn't strange except that we have no mutual friends, and I even checked to see if there were any friends of friends and I found nothing. She lives about an hour away from me. We never at any point lived in the same town, went to the same school, nor worked for the same company. I've never given my number to Facebook and the email associated with my account hasn't existed in at least 3 years or so.

I'm not even that active on facebook. I mostly use it to read news feeds, share random thoughts that pop in my head and occasionally troll my dull witted conservative friends. Most of the pics I have on FB are old with only 3 of them being from this year.

It's been bugging me all day. How the hell does Facebook *know* about an acquaintance of whom I had a very brief relationship with 5 years ago before either of us had joined FB? (yes I checked her join date too)

The only other explanation that I can come up with is that people who look you up or repeatedly view your profile show up in the "people you may know" list which Facebook officially denies but I take their word with a truckload of salt TBH. But even then I didn't even remember her last name and pretty much forgot about her, and I can't imagine why she would have been interested in (or even remembered) me after all of these years. Just about everyone else on that list is someone with mutual friends, former co-worker, classmate, etc. That I'm not interested in friending. But it's obvious why they show up on that list, and I'm at a loss to explain this unless it's just an amazing coincidence.

I never ever gave out my phone number to FB, but whenever I exchange phone numbers with someone, they start showing up in People You May Know. The reason why the girl friend requested you is because you were showing up on her list too. The only reason is that you two have each other's phone numbers. It doesn't matter whether you allowed FB to have it. They base their algorithms on that if you two have no mutual friends. It's wishful thinking on your part to assume this girl is stalking you. If she was, why would she friend request you? It was just an innocent act after she saw you on your People you may know list.