Who Stalks You On Facebook
UPDATE: Well, this post has actually generated quite a bit of difference! Below, five thoughtful theories attempting to resolve this pressing mystery:
- The "It's Individuals YOU Browse For" Theory
A passionate reader composes: "jesus ... PLEASE correct that facebook post. it's the five individuals whom YOU LOOK FOR frequently ... not the other way around. it's driving me crazy reading through all the comments seeing individuals getting mad at facebook for definitely no reason."
- The "It's A Coding Error" Theory
From a Facebook conversation thread: "I believe it's meant to be the individuals whose profiles you take a look at the most, however that they're referring to the incorrect stats (human coding error) and it's actually the 5 who take a look at yours many.
I think it's an error because Facebook wouldn't do something like that deliberately, it goes versus their principles of confidential browsing, but it absolutely describes a statistic that they're keeping, and in between the [minimal] details that the coding context offers and the nature of the names (after cross-referencing with 7 of my buddies), I 'd say they're unintentionally phoning the 5 individuals who search you the many."
- The "Browse Frequency" Theory
A reader attempts to parse the Facebook algorithm: "I have a theory. I believe it's matching the frequency of times that you browse for somebody with the frequency of times that people search for you and it's an effort at interpreting who your friends are."
- The "It's NOT Individual You Search For" Theory
A commenter tries the process of removal: "eek-- alright so i went on my secret stalking-only facebook page, where i have no good friends, and tried it. absolutely nothing turned up, which makes sense, cause it's a whack name. nevertheless, the people i utilize it to stalk didn't reveal up either, which means it can not be tracking the individuals we stalk."
- The "Facebook Says You Like These People" Theory
A commenter claims to go straight to the source: "OK, my friend emailed her buddy that works for the Excellent Book and here was the response (emphasis mine): This is the canned response we have actually been using:
The five good friends that you see below the search box are populated based on people whom we think you 'd be most interested in. Taking into account different aspects, we attempt to make an educated guess regarding who it is you're looking for when you begin typing a name in the search box.
Please note that this info is just noticeable to you and will not be shown your friends. We hope that this function is practical and we appreciate your feedback. Let me understand if you have more questions."