5 ms·

Hi, my name is Keith Adams, and I worked on Facebook's typeahead. The system has evolved a bit since we launched, but I talked about first_degree.php in the tec

by kmavm 15y ago

Hi, my name is Keith Adams, and I worked on Facebook's typeahead. The system has evolved a bit since we launched, but I talked about first_degree.php in the tech talk we did about the typeahead back-end last year: https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=432864835468 https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=432864835468 Briefly, first_degree.php returns objects you're directly connected to in the graph, and if there's space a few machine-generated guesses at other good results. We preload these as soon as you focus the "Search" box at the top of the page, in the hopes of having some decent results to show when you start typing. The index field does, as the article inferred, represent our best guess at a ranking function on these first degree objects. The inputs to this ranking function explicitly do not include other users' behavior on the site. I talked a bit about our ranking function in this quora question: http://www.quora.com/How-does-the-new-Facebook-search-engine-know-what-Im-thinking/answer/Keith-Adams http://www.quora.com/How-does-the-new-Facebook-search-engine... Edit: To clarify what a lot of people seem to be wondering, visiting someone's profile does not affect the search results of anyone but yourself.

coryl 15y ago
Can other people's interaction on your Facebook user affect their ranking on your list?
- davedx 15y ago
  "The inputs to this ranking function explicitly do not include other users' behavior on the site"
AmericanOP 15y ago
Keith, I would like a feature to clear my facebook search history/profile view history. I consider it a privacy issue. The knowledge that anyone who stumbles across my logged-in profile can see who I'm interested in by experimenting in my friend search bar has a chilling effect on the profiles I view. Google and most browsers have a 'clear search history' feature- it would be nice if facebook had the same.
- haberman 15y ago
  If someone you don't trust has access to your logged-in profile, you have much worse problems. For example, they can read all of your private mail and send mail as you.
  - Joakal 15y ago
    I think you mean their private Facebook inbox. They may already be limiting what they do on Facebook. But they can't clear the history thing. The potential "victum's fault" is still no excuse.
    - davedx 15y ago
      Someone not looking after their own security by leaving logged in sessions where other people can access them is indeed their fault. Come on. This is a personal responsibility issue and nothing else.
      - cookiecaper 15y ago
        There's more to it than just logging out. What if you don't want a subpoena to reflect your most visited profiles? There should be a way to purge any data kept longer than the routine access log cycle, including information on frequently viewed profiles.
- evgen 15y ago
  The fact that someone can "stumble across" your logged profile is less of a concern for you than the fact that they might see your search history? Seriously?
- reso 15y ago
  That's not a privacy issue, its a security issue. If you can't be bothered to log out your account on shared computers, people are going to get access to your account, and a malicious person will be able to do anything they please. Search type-aheads are the smallest of your problems.
kshcho 15y ago
Interesting point - the "friend ranking" numbers are different when I checked Mozilla vs. Chrome. In Mozilla, the first person ranked was at -6.2650374; on Chrome, it was -7.2581474 (I go back and forth with this person quite a bit). Also, the ranking of some of the people were different. My guess is something to do with browser cookies or caching - any ideas why this might be the case?
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- andrewflnr 15y ago
  Did you go back to Mozilla and make sure the value hadn't just changed for real?
gst 15y ago
This graph lists people that I do not have "friended" on Facebook, but whose mail address I probably have uploaded via the friend finder in the past. However, I've removed all imported friend finder contacts on https://www.facebook.com/invite_history.php https://www.facebook.com/invite_history.php some weeks ago. I guess this implies that Facebook does not really remove the imported information, but that it keeps this information and just hides those contacts from you in the friend finder interface.
- BSeward 15y ago
  I see plenty of people I know of but have never interacted with online (in fact I just found the previous-unfound profile of a coworker with a very common name). Facebook is /smart/--though I wouldn't doubt for a second that they've used your friend finder data to strength their edgerank data I would not be surprised to learn their seeming precognition comes from more esoteric sources.
- bauserdotcom 15y ago
  I think you're leaping to a bad conclusion. Keith's post mentions "computer-generated guesses" to fill in the list. Looking at the guesses in my list, they appear to be friends of friends. (The prefill list is probably using logic similar or identical to the logic that presents "people you may know.") Find somebody on your mystery list who isn't a friend of your friends, and then you can get paranoid.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
pasbesoin 15y ago
Keith, OT, but for the second time this year, someone is newly (just as of today) using one of my secondary Gmail accounts as their FB user ID. They don't appear to have access to the Gmail account -- and I've newly killed any concurrent sessions and then changed its password and security Q/A to be sure. So, I don't know how they're accomplishing this. But that Gmail account received the sign up confirmation messages and is now filling up with friend confirmations. Any chance you could plug me into someone relevant at FB, as this appears to be a recurring problem without a ready explanation? Email to pasbesoin at that gmail place. P.S. As best I can determine, my systems are clean, and I've no other problems/compromises that are apparent. There appears to be something borked with the Facebook account creation confirmation process.

by kmavm 15y ago

coryl 15y ago

Can other people's interaction on your Facebook user affect their ranking on your list?

davedx 15y ago
"The inputs to this ranking function explicitly do not include other users' behavior on the site"

AmericanOP 15y ago

Keith, I would like a feature to clear my facebook search history/profile view history. I consider it a privacy issue. The knowledge that anyone who stumbles across my logged-in profile can see who I'm interested in by experimenting in my friend search bar has a chilling effect on the profiles I view. Google and most browsers have a 'clear search history' feature- it would be nice if facebook had the same.

haberman 15y ago
If someone you don't trust has access to your logged-in profile, you have much worse problems. For example, they can read all of your private mail and send mail as you.
- Joakal 15y ago
  I think you mean their private Facebook inbox. They may already be limiting what they do on Facebook. But they can't clear the history thing. The potential "victum's fault" is still no excuse.
  - davedx 15y ago
    Someone not looking after their own security by leaving logged in sessions where other people can access them is indeed their fault. Come on. This is a personal responsibility issue and nothing else.
    - cookiecaper 15y ago
      There's more to it than just logging out. What if you don't want a subpoena to reflect your most visited profiles? There should be a way to purge any data kept longer than the routine access log cycle, including information on frequently viewed profiles.
evgen 15y ago
The fact that someone can "stumble across" your logged profile is less of a concern for you than the fact that they might see your search history? Seriously?
reso 15y ago
That's not a privacy issue, its a security issue. If you can't be bothered to log out your account on shared computers, people are going to get access to your account, and a malicious person will be able to do anything they please. Search type-aheads are the smallest of your problems.

kshcho 15y ago

Interesting point - the "friend ranking" numbers are different when I checked Mozilla vs. Chrome. In Mozilla, the first person ranked was at -6.2650374; on Chrome, it was -7.2581474 (I go back and forth with this person quite a bit). Also, the ranking of some of the people were different. My guess is something to do with browser cookies or caching - any ideas why this might be the case?

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
andrewflnr 15y ago
Did you go back to Mozilla and make sure the value hadn't just changed for real?

gst 15y ago

This graph lists people that I do not have "friended" on Facebook, but whose mail address I probably have uploaded via the friend finder in the past. However, I've removed all imported friend finder contacts on https://www.facebook.com/invite_history.php https://www.facebook.com/invite_history.php some weeks ago. I guess this implies that Facebook does not really remove the imported information, but that it keeps this information and just hides those contacts from you in the friend finder interface.

BSeward 15y ago
I see plenty of people I know of but have never interacted with online (in fact I just found the previous-unfound profile of a coworker with a very common name). Facebook is /smart/--though I wouldn't doubt for a second that they've used your friend finder data to strength their edgerank data I would not be surprised to learn their seeming precognition comes from more esoteric sources.
bauserdotcom 15y ago
I think you're leaping to a bad conclusion. Keith's post mentions "computer-generated guesses" to fill in the list. Looking at the guesses in my list, they appear to be friends of friends. (The prefill list is probably using logic similar or identical to the logic that presents "people you may know.") Find somebody on your mystery list who isn't a friend of your friends, and then you can get paranoid.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]

pasbesoin 15y ago

Keith, OT, but for the second time this year, someone is newly (just as of today) using one of my secondary Gmail accounts as their FB user ID. They don't appear to have access to the Gmail account -- and I've newly killed any concurrent sessions and then changed its password and security Q/A to be sure. So, I don't know how they're accomplishing this. But that Gmail account received the sign up confirmation messages and is now filling up with friend confirmations. Any chance you could plug me into someone relevant at FB, as this appears to be a recurring problem without a ready explanation? Email to pasbesoin at that gmail place. P.S. As best I can determine, my systems are clean, and I've no other problems/compromises that are apparent. There appears to be something borked with the Facebook account creation confirmation process.