5 ms·

How Facebook determines the list of 10 Friends to display on your profile?

49 points by xpressyoo 15y ago

jsavimbi 15y ago
Interesting hypothesis.
highlander 15y ago
Interesting experiment. I had been wondering about this. I have also been thinking along the same lines as Florian about 'Find Friends'. I have certainly had some people appear there who I am aware of (e.g. neighbors) but we don't have any friends in common and they aren't in any of my email accounts.
- walrus 15y ago
  I've noticed that the friend suggestions seem to be related to whose profile I had been viewing during the current Facebook session.
budu3 15y ago
Given that apps are banned from allowing people to know who visited their profile pages and facebook purposely doesn't have this functionality, it's interested that they use an algorithm that makes it possible for users to guess who has been visiting their profile page.
- bedris 15y ago
  I don't think that it does. The algorithm makes it possible for users to see who they publicly interact with the most, but this information could be gleaned by viewing that person's wall postings or photo comments. Therefore, the algorithm is just showing you people that visit your profile and interact, which you could figure out pretty easily anyways, not people who visit without leaving a mark.
  - budu3 15y ago
    >> Ahhh and in bonus: you know the "People you may know" section displayed at the right of your profile. Guess what? This section should be renamed "People who are not your friends but who attempted to visit your profile recently" ;) This exert from the post would suggest otherwise, don't you think?
cyrus_ 15y ago
His tests don't seem to distinguish between H2 (recent visits by the friend) and H4 (recent interactions) very effectively. I could see H4 being a legitimate strategy but H2 is a bit more concerning.
- cead_ite 15y ago
  Well, some people show up on mine with whom I've never interacted save making/accepting the initial friend request: this would seem to indicate that recent interactions weren't necessarily part of it.
- Tomek_ 15y ago
  Yeah, I think it's a mix of those two things - my list is composed of: a) people I interacted a lot recently b) people I interacted a lot in the past (and then almost not at all for a long time) c) people I haven't really interacted at all "c" must come from H2, "a" from H4 and that leaves "b" as either flaw in H4 or also a H2 - the latter would be a good news for me because people from that category are actually girls I gave up on a long time ago thinking they are not interested in me ;)
  - alectic 15y ago
    '..."c" must come from H2, "a" from H4 and that leaves "b" as either flaw in H4 or also a H2..." ^^ false dilemma, no?
oppo 15y ago
https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=116320945119338 https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=116320945119338 "The selection includes many friends who you publicly interact with the most. Examples of public interactions include Wall posts, comments and mutually attended events. Facebook will never show friends based on whose profiles you choose to view or who you interact with over messages and chat."
- nlanier 15y ago
  There are people consistently on my list whom I never interact with.
theschwa 15y ago
This is wrong. My friend who passed away a month or so ago is constantly on my list.
- rokhayakebe 15y ago
  My friend who passed away a month or so ago is constantly on my list. BTW, what does FB do about such accounts?
  - theschwa 15y ago
    So far they haven't touched hers, and I would be pretty pissed if they did. I need to find a way to download as much stuff off of there as possible in case they do decide to remove it.
    - deltaqueue 15y ago
      This might help: http://code.google.com/p/photograbber/ http://code.google.com/p/photograbber/
      - theschwa 15y ago
        Thank you. I wish this was available for Linux, but I'll be able to use someone else's computer.
    - unicornporn 15y ago
      fbcmd
  - snprbob86 15y ago
    They have a "memorialization" process: https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=103897939701143&ref_query=Memorializing https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=103897939701143&ref_q...
  - rufibarbatus 15y ago
    They become memorial pages. The media found out about that some time ago, there were a bunch of posts, newspieces and whatnot. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/oct/27/facebook-user-memorials http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/oct/27/facebook-us... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/6445152/Facebook-introduces-memorial-pages-to-prevent-alerts-about-dead-members.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/6445152/Faceb... I don't know what's the status of those pages these days. Maybe an HNer who works at Facebook can enlighten us?

49 points by xpressyoo 15y ago

Interesting hypothesis.

Interesting experiment. I had been wondering about this. I have also been thinking along the same lines as Florian about 'Find Friends'. I have certainly had some people appear there who I am aware of (e.g. neighbors) but we don't have any friends in common and they aren't in any of my email accounts.

walrus 15y ago
I've noticed that the friend suggestions seem to be related to whose profile I had been viewing during the current Facebook session.

budu3 15y ago

Given that apps are banned from allowing people to know who visited their profile pages and facebook purposely doesn't have this functionality, it's interested that they use an algorithm that makes it possible for users to guess who has been visiting their profile page.

bedris 15y ago
I don't think that it does. The algorithm makes it possible for users to see who they publicly interact with the most, but this information could be gleaned by viewing that person's wall postings or photo comments. Therefore, the algorithm is just showing you people that visit your profile and interact, which you could figure out pretty easily anyways, not people who visit without leaving a mark.
- budu3 15y ago
  >> Ahhh and in bonus: you know the "People you may know" section displayed at the right of your profile. Guess what? This section should be renamed "People who are not your friends but who attempted to visit your profile recently" ;) This exert from the post would suggest otherwise, don't you think?

cyrus_ 15y ago

His tests don't seem to distinguish between H2 (recent visits by the friend) and H4 (recent interactions) very effectively. I could see H4 being a legitimate strategy but H2 is a bit more concerning.

cead_ite 15y ago
Well, some people show up on mine with whom I've never interacted save making/accepting the initial friend request: this would seem to indicate that recent interactions weren't necessarily part of it.
Tomek_ 15y ago
Yeah, I think it's a mix of those two things - my list is composed of: a) people I interacted a lot recently b) people I interacted a lot in the past (and then almost not at all for a long time) c) people I haven't really interacted at all "c" must come from H2, "a" from H4 and that leaves "b" as either flaw in H4 or also a H2 - the latter would be a good news for me because people from that category are actually girls I gave up on a long time ago thinking they are not interested in me ;)
- alectic 15y ago
  '..."c" must come from H2, "a" from H4 and that leaves "b" as either flaw in H4 or also a H2..." ^^ false dilemma, no?

oppo 15y ago

https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=116320945119338 https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=116320945119338 "The selection includes many friends who you publicly interact with the most. Examples of public interactions include Wall posts, comments and mutually attended events. Facebook will never show friends based on whose profiles you choose to view or who you interact with over messages and chat."

nlanier 15y ago
There are people consistently on my list whom I never interact with.

theschwa 15y ago

This is wrong. My friend who passed away a month or so ago is constantly on my list.

rokhayakebe 15y ago
My friend who passed away a month or so ago is constantly on my list. BTW, what does FB do about such accounts?
- theschwa 15y ago
  So far they haven't touched hers, and I would be pretty pissed if they did. I need to find a way to download as much stuff off of there as possible in case they do decide to remove it.
  - deltaqueue 15y ago
    This might help: http://code.google.com/p/photograbber/ http://code.google.com/p/photograbber/
    - theschwa 15y ago
      Thank you. I wish this was available for Linux, but I'll be able to use someone else's computer.
  - unicornporn 15y ago
    fbcmd
- snprbob86 15y ago
  They have a "memorialization" process: https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=103897939701143&ref_query=Memorializing https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=103897939701143&ref_q...
- rufibarbatus 15y ago
  They become memorial pages. The media found out about that some time ago, there were a bunch of posts, newspieces and whatnot. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/oct/27/facebook-user-memorials http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/oct/27/facebook-us... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/6445152/Facebook-introduces-memorial-pages-to-prevent-alerts-about-dead-members.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/6445152/Faceb... I don't know what's the status of those pages these days. Maybe an HNer who works at Facebook can enlighten us?