The highest ideal of social media platforms is to expand users’ horizons and social circles. No less valuable, though, is how such platforms as Facebook support sustaining and rebuilding social circles.
The “People You May Know” feature on Facebook conveniently mixes both of these experiences. It can encourage new connections over shared interests and experiences, but it can also help you find old friends.
People You May Know is Facebook’s friend suggestion feature, which shows you social media profiles that other users are not already following but may be interested in. These suggestions are generally based on algorithms that account for user activity which may include people who look at your profile.
Facebook’s particular variation of the friend suggestion tool, like the platform itself, attempts to better encompass complicated profile and biographical factors. This makes for more nuanced presumptions of compatibility between users.
PYMK takes into account mutual social circles and networks, such as particular real-life institutions and online groups with which the users are affiliated. Other factors include activity with posts, hashtags, linked accounts off of Facebook, etc.
Even more controversially, friend suggestions may also be based on user activity which suggests that someone is actively trying to reach out to another user. This behavior may not be as friendly as Facebook thinks.
Are Suggested Friends on Facebook Looking At Your Profile
The extent and recurrence of an unfriended user’s visit to your profile is a variable in the People You May Know algorithm. It could be an already compatible user who simply viewed your profile in passing, or it could be a recurring stalker.
A social media stalker is someone who extensively and perhaps regularly looks through a user’s profile without that person’s consent. Such activity is generally considered discrete and harmless, but it may still be felt like a violation.
Social media stalkers do not necessarily have to be logged in to an account to view the profile of a Facebook user, despite the platform’s notorious efforts to limit activity by non-users. However, stalking someone’s profile while logged in can bear algorithmic consequences.
Of course, profile visitation is a much more ambiguous factor in PYMK than compatibility.
How Does Facebook Suggest Friends
Facebook users can find their “People You May Know” list under their “Friend Requests” list. Newer suggestions can also be found in notifications, next to “You have a new friend suggestion”.
Like most social media platforms’ friend suggestions features, People You May Know looks at compatibility based on social networks and activity with topics of interest.
Similar activity and information gathered by the algorithm lead to it playing matchmaker between prospective online friends.
As the name “People You May Know” suggests, Facebook goes deeper than most platforms in connecting people with real-life associations.
This is allowed by the platform having some of the most nuanced profile customizations and messaging in social media.
Your timelines, life events, and profile insights are complexly matched with those of potential contemporaries and associates.
PYMK maybe even more about reconnection than it is about connection.
Of course, this feature has gained controversy as a reflection of the lack of privacy users have from Facebook’s algorithmic accumulation of personal data.
There was a time when People You May Know was so involved in users’ real lives that it was partially based on location tracking.
Representatives of Facebook claim that this was an experiment that lasted only four weeks in 2016, but have also continuously and infamously admitted to being oblivious to many of the goings-on in the platform’s algorithms.
As much as any social media stalker, Facebook may be following you more closely than you are comfortable with. Let us break down the main ways PYMK determines whom you might be interested in following.
If I Stalk Someone On Facebook, Will I Be Suggested?
Friend suggestions based on profile viewing mostly favor the person doing the viewing. Facebook assumes that you are trying to vet or approach a profile you are not friends with and could suggest the user as someone you may know.
With PYMK, the algorithm is most heavily influenced by apparent connections between users. This mostly entails compatibility between profiles, but it can also take into account user activity.
If you spend enough time looking up an unfriended user, albeit one who already has compatible profile elements, you will appear on that person’s PYMK list. How highly you will come recommended, though, is a different matter.
Do Facebook Suggestions Work Both Ways?
Activity factors such as account views and searches seem to reflect a lack of symmetry in friend suggestion determinations.
Just because there are so many mutual elements to show compatibility between users, that does not mean that chemistry will be considered balanced.
Users’ placement on a People You May Know reflects their rank, which is based on the degree of compatibility between the two users.
The more commonalities you have with someone in terms of social networks, interests, and other external connections, the more immediately that person will appear on the list.
What you do and post further determines variables in friend suggestion algorithms that will affect who appears on your PYMK list and where.
Stalking someone’s profile does not play nearly as big a part in friend suggestions as compatibility factors, but it can place users on the same radar.
You Use the Same Hashtags
Hashtags have a much smaller function in Facebook’s friend suggestions than they do on other platforms.
On platforms such as Instagram, hashtags can denote topical compatibility. The more esoteric, precisely spelled and formatted, and frequent a hashtag, the more those who used it would be suggested to each other.
PYMK is less focused on directly introducing people, so it is less involved in hashtag compatibility. Little is known about how much hashtags factor into the algorithm at all, but it would appear that they do have a place.
Hashtags referential to potential social networks can surely indicate associations. So too do tags of people and places in Facebook media posts.
You Have Them in Your Contacts
Unsurprisingly, the most immediate variable in PYMK’s search for suggested friends is your already being associated with those people.
If Facebook is connected to such other messaging platforms as Contacts on your phone, you will be suggested and suggested to users whose own accounts and Contacts are linked.
You can manually upload your contacts to Facebook or permit automatic updates as you add new contacts.
To prevent automatic syncing, you can deny the Facebook mobile app access to your Contacts during setup. If you change your mind after approval, here’s how to un-sync.
- Open the Facebook mobile app, then select the “hamburger” menu button on the right end of the shortcut bar at the bottom of the screen.
- Go to “Settings & Privacy”, then select “Settings”.
- Go to “Upload Contacts”, or “Media & Contacts” if you have the Android version of the app.
- Switch off “Upload Contacts”, or “Continuous Contacts Upload” on the Android version.
You Have the Same Friends
The establishment of a network on Facebook is the biggest factor in the platform’s efforts to expand.
The most common tag under a friend suggestion is “Mutual Friend”. The more mutual friends you have with a user, the more likely and highly that user will appear on your People You May Know list.
More uniquely, Facebook draws on broader networking through Places and Groups profiles that you have in common with a prospective friend.
In addition to shared friends, suggestions can arise from shared schools, workplaces, groups, etc. That is especially the case if the users were affiliated with these places around the same time.
Of course, “Mutual Friends” may also be the most vulnerable factor in friend suggestions.
Be on the lookout for potential spam accounts and bots that have managed to friend someone in your social circle, to be suggested to their friends and gather information.
They Just Joined Facebook
Facebook may be eager to immediately suggest new users whose initial profile details and posts are compatible with those of more established users. Certainly, the novice can expect a long PYMK list fairly soon.
Suggestions for and of new users can also be based on the presence of other services from Meta Platforms.
For example, if your new Facebook is linked to an established Instagram account, its friends’ synced Facebook accounts will be quickly and prominently displayed on your PYMK list. Instagram also has a suggested friends feature.
The syncing of information between Meta’s social media platforms can be managed through the Meta Accounts Center. If you want to start your social media presence fresh on Facebook, here is how to unlink your account from its sister accounts.
- Open Facebook on a desktop browser.
- Open the “downward arrow” button in the upper right-hand corner of the webpage to open the shortcut menu.
- Select “Settings & Privacy”, then “Settings”.
- Select the Meta Accounts Center button at the bottom of the list on the left side of the webpage.
- Go to “Accounts” under “Accounts Settings”.
- Select the “Remove” button next to your Facebook account’s tab, then click “Continue”.
Does Facebook Suggest Friends Who Have Searched for You?
As you can see, “People You May Know” mostly lives up to its name by focusing its algorithms on connecting Facebook users who may already have an association.
As has also been mentioned, though, visiting an unfriended, already compatible user’s profile increases the likelihood of that person showing up on your People You May Know list.
Even if you came across this profile by accident, continuous visits may lead to the algorithm presuming that you already know this user in another context.
To that point, active searching can also suggest an association. Looking up Places or Groups that you have not added to your profile may factor into suggestions of users who, to be sure, have more direct commonalities with you.
If someone shows up on your PYMK list, it may partially be because that person has been searching for you. If the user keeps moving up on your list, this could be because your profile is being continuously searched and/or viewed.
Does Facebook Suggest Friends Whom You Have Searched For?
Again, viewing someone’s Facebook profile is more likely to lead to that person being suggested to you than the other way around.
Thus, searching for users who have other compatible elements can greatly increase the chances of that person showing up on your PYMK list.
Of course, you may not have been searching for the user suggested, nor have you looked at that profile.
The more specific the keywords are in your search (i.e. The more precise the person’s name or username) and, most importantly, the more commonalities you share with a user, the more likely it is that the user will be suggested to you.
Friend suggestions based on user activity do not necessarily indicate that you are being actively stalked. Frequent searches, though, are likely a different story.
Why Does Facebook Keep Suggesting the Same Person?
If you are not interested in sending a friend request to someone on your People You May Know list, a “Remove” button is conveniently placed next to the “Add Friend” of each suggestion. However, this removal may not be permanent.
If you have enough in common with a user you removed from the friend suggestions list, that name could reappear at some point. The recommendation will not be placed as high on the list, but its reappearance is not uncommon.
Facebook is annoyingly dedicated to expanding users’ social media presence. That means giving you as many chances as possible to friend someone with whom you have a mutual friend, topical interest, or shared places and experiences.
If Facebook keeps suggesting users who continuously search for and look up others’ profiles, does that validate social media stalking? Are you uncomfortable with indications that someone is looking at your profile too much?
How Do You Get Rid of Friend Suggestions on Facebook?
If you are irritated by friend suggestions on Facebook, you can opt-out of notifications for new suggestions very easily.
Open notifications, then open additional options next to a friend suggestion, and select “Turn off these notifications”. Otherwise, you can go to “Settings”, then “Notifications”, and toggle off “People You May Know”.
If you simply do not want to deal with the “People You May Know” feature at all, I am afraid there is no way to disable the list.
If you strongly suspect that you are being aggressively stalked on Facebook and fear harassment, you can block and report the user.
Can I See Who Has Viewed My Profile On Facebook?
There have been several apps or hacks online that claim to be able to show Facebook users when their account is seen and even by whom.
These are either scams or unsafe in other ways, and Facebook advises reporting them immediately. There is no way to see when or by whom your Facebook account has been viewed!
You do, of course, have some control over what users who are not friends with can see on your profile. Facebook provides security and privacy options to protect your content, even from friends.
Under “Settings”, the “Privacy” page allows you to control the privacy settings of posts, profile elements, etc. You can set these activities to be viewed only by your friends or exclusively by certain ones.
Also on this page, “How people find and contact you” allows you to adjust your presence on Facebook’s search engines and what information is accessible to the public or select friends.
Privacy settings can limit what factors are considered by the algorithm that suggests prospective friends.
Unlike with some social media platforms, however, you cannot fully prevent your profile from appearing on others’ “People You May Know” list.
Facebook People You May Know Showing No Mutual Friends
You need to be aware of whom Facebook is suggesting as a friend. Although mutual friends play the most obvious role in deciding someone’s presence and rank on a PYMK list, the other aforementioned factors can supersede the one.
Does your PYMK list not show any mutual friends with the suggested user? This may not be a glitch, and you do not have an individual associate in common with this person.
You may find that this prospective friend went to the same school or workplace as you around the same time. You may have both been tagged at the same event or photo or are part of a group on Facebook.
Don’t worry! Facebook stalking alone should not factor into a friend suggestion. Of course, if you are looking up this prospective friend’s profile to see what exactly you have in common, that may increase your chances of being suggested.
Conclusion
Friend suggestions are typically welcomed in the social media field for allowing users to create new connections.
What’s unique about Facebook’s “People You May Know” feature is that it is focused more on sustaining connections that may have been cultivated elsewhere, especially in real life.
PYMK lists typically consist of people with whom you share friends, places, groups, and an acquaintance on platforms linked to your Facebook account.
Hashtags may only play a small part in determining user compatibility on Facebook, but being tagged in a photo with someone will more likely get that person on your list.
Unfortunately, friend suggestions may also be an indicator that someone is taking too much of an interest in you. This user may be aggressively searching for or even stalking your profile.
Even with its greater consideration of trust and chemistry among prospective friends, PYMK can caution you when you have a social media stalker.
Although there is no way to completely know when someone is searching for or viewing your profile, you can adjust privacy settings to better protect your content and the information that influences the friend suggestion algorithm.
As with life, there are a lot of risks involved with opening up to potential friends. If compatible users you are not interested in friending continue to appear on your suggestions list, they may either be too compatible to completely deny or too invasive in their activities.
You may be right to be paranoid when “People You May Know” includes names you either don’t recognize or recognize all too well. It is all the more reason to get to know your friends on Facebook.
