How friend suggestions work on Facebook
If you want a precise answer on how friend suggestions work on Facebook, I can't provide it to you. These suggestions, in fact, are made by an algorithm that analyzes hundreds of different parameters and, unfortunately, we do not know what they are and what the “weight” of each of them is.
Almost certainly, among the data that the Facebook algorithm combines to suggest new friends is the common friends that you have with other users of the social network. Basically, seeing that you and a person have several friends in common, comes to the conclusion that you may know each other.
If you then uploaded to Facebook i contacts in your address book (I explained how to do it in another guide), the algorithm could also offer you some of them among the friendship suggestions (and you too, in turn, could appear in the friendship suggestions of your contacts).
Among the many information that the Facebook algorithm could analyze, there is also the city of origin city where you currently live school attended, work, family relationships, the luoghi in which one has registered, i "I like" and Comments left on the social network, i post where you are tagged and even i groups to which you have subscribed.
Furthermore, according to some “urban legends”, Facebook would memorize the research that are made by users and would use those concerning the names of other people to propose friendship suggestions. Obviously we do not know if Facebook actually analyzes the information in question to propose new friendship suggestions, since these rumors have never been officially confirmed or denied by the upper floors of Menlo Park.
Finally, a mention of the functionality for personally propose friendship suggestions to other users on Facebook: unfortunately this feature, which until recently, allowed to suggest friends to other people registered on the social network has been disabled and it is not known if it will be restored.
How to see friend suggestions on Facebook
Now is the time to find out how to view friend suggestions on Facebook. Succeeding is really simple: just log into your account, press the friend requests button and check the names in the section People You May Know. Here is explained everything in detail.
- Give smartphone and tablet - access Facebook from your Android or iOS device, tap on the symbol of two men located at the top left (on Android) or bottom left (on iOS). In the screen that opens, locate the section People You May Know to view friend suggestions. In some cases, friend suggestions may also appear by scrolling through the feed on the main page of the social network.
- From computer - log in to Facebook from its home page (or from its application for Windows 10), click on the symbol of two men located at the top right (on the blue Facebook bar), so as to view the names of the friendship suggestions, present in the section People You May Know. You can also access the list of friend suggestions by clicking on the button Find friends always located at the top right. Simple, right?
How to delete friend suggestions on Facebook
After viewing some friend suggestions, have you noticed that among them there are names of people you don't actually know and / or with whom you would not like to make friends on Facebook? If so, you can delete friend suggestions quite simply unwanted.
- Give smartphone and tablet - access Facebook from your Android or iOS device, tap the button depicting i two men located at the top left (on Android) or bottom left (on iOS). Now, locate the section People You May Know to view the friend suggestions and, to delete the ones you don't want to see, tap the button Remove placed in correspondence of each of them.
- From computer - log in to Facebook from its home page (or from its application for Windows 10), click on the symbol of two men located at the top right (or on the Find Friends button) and locate the section People You May Know. Then find the names of the friendship suggestions you want to delete and click on the button Remove placed next to the ones you want to remove.
I want to tell you, however, that while removing a suggestion of friendship from the list People You May Know, it may be that in the future the Facebook algorithm will propose the name in question to you.
How to appear in friend suggestions on Facebook
Would you like to appear in Facebook friend suggestions, but don't have a clue how to do it? Unfortunately, there is no exact formula to succeed, since as I explained to you in the initial chapter of this guide, friendship suggestions are handled completely automatically by the social network algorithm. However you can try to increase the chances of appearing among the friend suggestions of other users by following the "tips" indicated below and crossing your fingers!
- Having friends in common - since this is one of the parameters taken into account by the Facebook algorithm, having friends in common with other users increases the chances of appearing in their friend suggestions.
- Provide personal information - providing information such as the school attended, their job, the city of origin and so on, increases the chances of appearing in the friendship suggestions of people who have some of this information in common.
- Upload your contacts - even if it is not certain that Facebook analyzes the contacts uploaded to suggest friends, it is plausible that its algorithm could take this data into consideration to try to be more precise.
- Join Facebook groups - by subscribing to Facebook groups that deal with topics of your interest, the Facebook algorithm could be able to understand what your interests are and offer you the friendship of users with whom you could share them.
- Get tagged in photos - if you are tagged in a photo in which there are other people, the Facebook algorithm could assume that you know them and, therefore, make you appear in the friend suggestions of the latter.
For more information on how to appear in friendship suggestions on Facebook, take a look at the in-depth analysis in which I deepen in detail the indications I have given you in the previous points.
How Facebook friend suggestions work
