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This is all fairly straight forward however, what blows my mind is Facebook makes recommendations of friends that I've NEVER had any digital interaction with.

by __abc 9y ago

This is all fairly straight forward however, what blows my mind is Facebook makes recommendations of friends that I've NEVER had any digital interaction with. For some reason it picked up the kid who stocks the craft beer at my local family run grocer. Literally only talked to the kid face-to-face. No phone number, no texting, no contact entry (not that I share those with Facebook anyways). That made the hair on the back of my neck stick up when that happened.

eknkc 9y ago
Maybe he searched and looked you up on Facebook and it's somehow enough signal to suggest him?
- yuvalmer 9y ago
  Wouldn't it violate their promise that users cannot know who looked up their profile?
mateo411 9y ago
There is some process that is running a spatial join. You were both logged into facebook at the same time, and were in close proximity. I had a similar situtation where Facebook recommended that I friend a coworker that sat next to me.
- beejiu 9y ago
  Facebook claimed a year ago that they did not use location data. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/29/how-does-facebook-suggest-potential-friends-not-location-data-not-now https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/29/how-does-...
  - Bjartr 9y ago
    "location data" and "factors that are location dependent" are not the same thing. e.g. SSID + MAC address of a wifi access point that two people used at the same time.
  - mateo411 9y ago
    Interesting. The situation I described happened over a year ago, so I imagine they were using location data then.
jakub_g 9y ago
I suspect FB uses location and/or WiFi data as one of entry points. Note that smartphones often scan WiFi networks even when WiFi is off. Based on the high intersection of two sets of SSIDs names visible from two devices at the same time, you can decide two people were in one room together. If this happens regularly, you can be quite confident people "know" each other in some way, which can unveil many surprising "friends" recommendations.
kostarelo 9y ago
Location tracking
nsgi 9y ago
Have you ever called the grocer's phone number? Maybe it's linked to his account.

by __abc 9y ago

eknkc 9y ago

Maybe he searched and looked you up on Facebook and it's somehow enough signal to suggest him?

yuvalmer 9y ago
Wouldn't it violate their promise that users cannot know who looked up their profile?

mateo411 9y ago

There is some process that is running a spatial join. You were both logged into facebook at the same time, and were in close proximity. I had a similar situtation where Facebook recommended that I friend a coworker that sat next to me.

beejiu 9y ago
Facebook claimed a year ago that they did not use location data. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/29/how-does-facebook-suggest-potential-friends-not-location-data-not-now https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/29/how-does-...
- Bjartr 9y ago
  "location data" and "factors that are location dependent" are not the same thing. e.g. SSID + MAC address of a wifi access point that two people used at the same time.
- mateo411 9y ago
  Interesting. The situation I described happened over a year ago, so I imagine they were using location data then.

jakub_g 9y ago

I suspect FB uses location and/or WiFi data as one of entry points. Note that smartphones often scan WiFi networks even when WiFi is off. Based on the high intersection of two sets of SSIDs names visible from two devices at the same time, you can decide two people were in one room together. If this happens regularly, you can be quite confident people "know" each other in some way, which can unveil many surprising "friends" recommendations.

kostarelo 9y ago

Location tracking

nsgi 9y ago

Have you ever called the grocer's phone number? Maybe it's linked to his account.