Facebook Friend Suggestions

Discussions center on how Facebook recommends 'People You May Know' using contact lists uploaded by friends, email communications, and phone numbers, even for non-users, raising significant privacy concerns.

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IT FB IMHO HOW VERY mkjon.es friend.png About.me AND normal.If facebook contacts friends fb contact friend facebook account email account number

Sample Comments

thewhitetulip Oct 6, 2016 View on HN

I have had facebook recommend me people with whom I have communicated via Gmail and Github only

axod Apr 11, 2008 View on HN

"facebook friends" != real friends

epochwolf Jun 25, 2014 View on HN

You forgot one thing, facebook knows what your friends tell them.

reddickulous Jul 13, 2012 View on HN

I want something like this but hooked up to my facebook friends.

ChrisNorstrom Aug 1, 2012 View on HN

It's the email addresses. When you friends share their email contact list with Facebook, Facebook the list to find connections between people and suggest friends you might know. It's VERY intrusive especially when you have 2 online identities, a profession one and a personal one and Facebook keeps trying to tie them together with complete disregard for your privacy.===== HOW IT WORKS =====If someone has a Facebook account and shares their gmail or yahoo contacts with Facebook. Facebook wil

ubernostrum Aug 30, 2016 View on HN

Facebook will happily slurp your entire contact list even if you're not FB friends with all of them. And the algorithms almost certainly know and take into account having someone in your contacts as a way to build a graph of relationships.

thatguy0900 Jan 4, 2021 View on HN

If anyone with you as a contact uses Facebook then Facebook probably knows it anyway

spery Apr 1, 2016 View on HN

Maybe because he uses it like FB, adding friends.

4ad Oct 23, 2011 View on HN

At first, it didn't recommend anything, but after I made yet another account and added that as friend it recommended 50+ people I had no relationship to, AND one friend that I know of. There's nothing linking me to that person except the phone number I used, so it seems to work somewhat, however, I know for sure there are at least 50 people with my phone number on facebook, why didn't it recommend any of those other people?

jkrems Jan 16, 2014 View on HN

Are they "associated" with you? E.g. are they people Facebook could know you are friends with etc.?