Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, And It Won't Tell Me How

[HAB911]

Rebecca Porter and I were strangers, as far as I knew. Facebook, however, thought we might be connected. Her name popped up this summer on my list of “People You May Know,” the social network’s roster of potential new online friends for me.

The People You May Know feature is notorious for its uncanny ability to recognize who you associate with in real life. It has mystified and disconcerted Facebook users by showing them an old boss, a one-night-stand, or someone they just ran into on the street.

These friend suggestions go far beyond mundane linking of schoolmates or colleagues. Over the years, I’d been told many weird stories about them, such as when a psychiatrist told me that her patients were being recommended to one another, indirectly outing their medical issues.

What makes the results so unsettling is the range of data sources—location information, activity on other apps, facial recognition on photographs—that Facebook has at its disposal to cross-check its users against one another, in the hopes of keeping them more deeply attached to the site. People generally are aware that Facebook is keeping tabs on who they are and how they use the network, but the depth and persistence of that monitoring is hard to grasp. And People You May Know, or “PYMK” in the company’s internal shorthand, is a black box.

http://gizmodo.com/facebook-figured-out-my-family-secrets-and-it-wont-tel-1797696163

[unblock]

1. i would think proximity in the friends map would explain 95% of it.

if x is friends with y and y is friends with z, but x and z are not friends, it's not unreasonable to offer x and z as a potential friend suggestion.

i would expect that simple and obvious heuristic to explain the vast majority of suggestions.

i can see how it could be improved with additional information. consider a user who has a huge numbers of friends; say, a professor who facebook friends all his/her students over the course of a long career. it might not make sense to suggest that any random pairing of their friends, but if you limit it to similar ages or year of graduation, that makes it a better guess.

it's an interesting question from an algorithmic point of view.

also a reminder of how easy it is to put personal information out there without realizing how it can be used.

[HAB911]

2. I know Linkedin and Twitter

always want access to my contacts list, that alone opens up points on the matrix one can only imagine

[Croney]

3. Yes, Facebook keeps telling me my ex-husband is a person I may know.

If they only knew!

Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then. I'd really be in the know.

[unblock]

6. my ex doesn't show up as a "person you might know" because we're facebook friends.

it's great. she rarely posts, and when she does, i see she's happy, which makes my happy because i wish nothing but the best for her. and it reminds me that i'm no longer married to her, which make me happy as well.

[bettyellen]

4. I was surprised to see adds on Twitter for a show I had just texted a friend about....

It's getting a bit creepy.

[HAB911]

5. Google is approaching

pre-filling my searches! LOL

[BigmanPigman]

8. I do not and never used social media but I do use Google a lot.

Should I be concerned?

[HAB911]

9. Not really

you might notice targeted ads on sites that have embedded advertising i.e. if you googled a specific product at some time you will begin to see ads for that product on unrelated sites later. In the bigger scheme of things it's pretty benign tracking technology. Just stay aware of your surroundings as in real life.

[BigmanPigman]

10. Thanks.

[left-of-center2012]

7. I have about 1,000 'friends' on Facebook

I don't know any of the people Facebook suggests I may know (and want to add as friends).

[Skittles]

11. a pox on everyone who made that piece of shit site popular

[jberryhill]

13. People you may know....

[athenasatanjesus]

12. I feel like those advertisements for checking criminal records have faces of people I know on them.

[HAB911]

14. LOL, know a lot of criminals

or something more nefarious?