One of my readers just sent me an email about a new feature that he hadn’t seen previously. I haven’t seen this feature either. Apparently there is now a feature that “Suggests a friend to me.” I’m assuming that if there is a contact that you have a certain number of shared friends with it will automatically send you an email notification telling you about that person and suggesting that you contact them.
This is an interesting feature that I previously hadn’t seen. I have been on other social networks such as Last.fm that tell you who your “neighbors” are. On Last.fm your neighbors are people that you have similar listening tastes to. On other sites it’s based on the number of friends you have in common with someone. This is a simple little addition to the Facebook platform but it is definitely a useful one. I will be interested to see if I start getting a number of new friend suggestions.
I could see this being extremely useful on LinkedIn. Do you think this new feature is useful?
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brilliant
Comment by Jonathan Kleiman — February 5, 2008 @ 2:33 pm
Not only do I think this is useful, I wanted to create a Facebookapplication to do exactly that. I was going to call it, "Why aren't wefriends?" Unfortunately, you can't get your friends' friends listthrough the Facebook Platform, so I was unable to create the app.How does one get to this feature? I don't recognize where on the sitethe screenshot originates. Are you sure it's real?
Comment by Dan Jones — February 5, 2008 @ 2:55 pm
This is very useful. People discovery is a killer feature of social media and this functionality adds power to that.
Comment by Brij — February 5, 2008 @ 3:24 pm
Not only do I think this is useful, I wanted to create a Facebook
application to do exactly that. I was going to call it, "Why aren't we
friends?" Unfortunately, you can't get your friends' friends list
through the Facebook Platform, so I was unable to create the app.
How does one get to this feature? I don't recognize where on the site
the screenshot originates. Are you sure it's real?
Comment by Dan Jones — February 5, 2008 @ 3:55 pm
@Dan, this is the Account preferences page for Email Notifications from Facebook and Facebook applications.
Comment by Constantine Hannaher — February 5, 2008 @ 4:16 pm
Answer for Dan Jones – It is real. You can find the feature shown in the screenshot by clicking account, then under the notifications tab.
Comment by Ken B. — February 5, 2008 @ 4:23 pm
This can be found in the notifications page: http://www.facebook.com/editaccount.php?notific…..However, it's listed under "notify me when someone…" So it appears that Facebook will be adding a feature to let you suggest people to your current friends – not Facebook making automatic suggestions.
Comment by Joey Tyson — February 5, 2008 @ 4:50 pm
linkedin has done this for a long time
Comment by sheep — February 5, 2008 @ 5:11 pm
This can be found in the notifications page: http://www.facebook.com/editaccount.php?notificat...
However, it's listed under "notify me when someone…" So it appears that Facebook will be adding a feature to let you suggest people to your current friends – not Facebook making automatic suggestions.
Comment by Joey Tyson — February 5, 2008 @ 5:50 pm
I think you're reading this wrong… it's not an automated friend generator feature (like LinkedIn has). Rather this is just a toggle for turning on/off email notification if someone SUGGESTS you should be a friend with someone else.
Comment by Rex — February 5, 2008 @ 6:29 pm
brilliant
Comment by Jonathan Kleiman — February 5, 2008 @ 6:33 pm
This is very useful. People discovery is a killer feature of social media and this functionality adds power to that.
Comment by Brij — February 5, 2008 @ 7:24 pm
I have this on my account, I want to see what Facebook suggests up.
Comment by Justin Yost — February 5, 2008 @ 8:24 pm
I'm the one that originally emailed Nick, and I was thinking it could be more like what Joey described. Kind of like when you click "Forward to friend" on Myspace.
Comment by Clark Embree — February 5, 2008 @ 8:25 pm
@Dan, this is the Account preferences page for Email Notifications from Facebook and Facebook applications.
Comment by Constantine Hannaher — February 5, 2008 @ 8:16 pm
Answer for Dan Jones – It is real. You can find the feature shown in the screenshot by clicking account, then under the notifications tab.
Comment by Ken B. — February 5, 2008 @ 8:23 pm
[...] always interesting Unofficial Facebook Blog is running a story that Facebook is (or may be soon) starting to suggest new people that you [...]
Pingback by Streak The Lawn » Facebook Suggesting Friends Now? — February 5, 2008 @ 8:43 pm
linkedin has done this for a long time
Comment by sheep — February 5, 2008 @ 9:11 pm
"However, it’s listed under “notify me when someone…†So it appears that Facebook will be adding a feature to let you suggest people to your current friends – not Facebook making automatic suggestions."AGREED!
Comment by Jonathan Kleiman — February 5, 2008 @ 10:22 pm
As sheep hints at above, LinkedIn has a feature called "People You May Know" which launched almost a year ago. It is one of our most popular features.
Comment by Steve Ganz — February 5, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
"However, it’s listed under “notify me when someone…†So it appears that Facebook will be adding a feature to let you suggest people to your current friends – not Facebook making automatic suggestions."
AGREED!
Comment by Jonathan Kleiman — February 5, 2008 @ 11:22 pm
I think you’re reading this wrong… it’s not an automated friend generator feature (like LinkedIn has). Rather this is just a toggle for turning on/off email notification if someone SUGGESTS you should be a friend with someone else.
Comment by Rex — February 5, 2008 @ 10:29 pm
I found your comment about LinkedIn a bit surprising. The "People You May Know" application, which uses sophisticated analytics to suggest connections, has been available on LinkedIn since early last year.- Adam
Comment by Adam Nash — February 5, 2008 @ 11:48 pm
I have this on my account, I want to see what Facebook suggests up.
Comment by Justin Yost — February 5, 2008 @ 11:24 pm
I’m the one that originally emailed Nick, and I was thinking it could be more like what Joey described. Kind of like when you click “Forward to friend” on Myspace.
Comment by Clark Embree — February 5, 2008 @ 11:25 pm
Sounds like th Amazon feature of people who bought this book also bought this book. I guess its gonna be something like people who connected with xxx…. also connected with yyy….
Comment by Richard Byrom — February 6, 2008 @ 12:41 am
I found your comment about LinkedIn a bit surprising. The "People You May Know" application, which uses sophisticated analytics to suggest connections, has been available on LinkedIn since early last year.
- Adam
Comment by Adam Nash — February 6, 2008 @ 12:48 am
As sheep hints at above, LinkedIn has a feature called “People You May Know” which launched almost a year ago. It is one of our most popular features.
Comment by Steve Ganz — February 6, 2008 @ 2:27 am
This is interesting.But it quite clear that it is not Facebook making the suggestion, it is your friends making a suggestion.Information about this (new?) feature can be found in help under "Friends and Social Timeline" under "How do I suggest a friend to someone?""After you confirm a friend request from a new user, you can suggest to your friends that they also send a friend request to the user. Clicking "Suggest friends that [Name] may know" will bring up a window of all of your confirmed friends. You can use the search bar to find a particular person, filter all of your friends by network or simply scroll through your complete friends list. Clicking a friend’s picture will add them to the “Selected†tab. Once you’ve made all of your selections, click “Send Suggestions†to send a suggestion to each user that they add the new user as a friend. The suggestions will appear on your friends' home pages, and will allow them to quickly send a friend request to the new user.Please take note that you currently cannot suggest friends for users who have been on Facebook for some time."
Comment by Mke — February 6, 2008 @ 4:06 am
This is interesting.
But it quite clear that it is not Facebook making the suggestion, it is your friends making a suggestion.
Information about this (new?) feature can be found in help under "Friends and Social Timeline" under "How do I suggest a friend to someone?"
"After you confirm a friend request from a new user, you can suggest to your friends that they also send a friend request to the user. Clicking "Suggest friends that [Name] may know" will bring up a window of all of your confirmed friends. You can use the search bar to find a particular person, filter all of your friends by network or simply scroll through your complete friends list. Clicking a friend’s picture will add them to the “Selected†tab. Once you’ve made all of your selections, click “Send Suggestions†to send a suggestion to each user that they add the new user as a friend. The suggestions will appear on your friends' home pages, and will allow them to quickly send a friend request to the new user.
Please take note that you currently cannot suggest friends for users who have been on Facebook for some time."
Comment by Mke — February 6, 2008 @ 5:06 am
Sounds like th Amazon feature of people who bought this book also bought this book. I guess its gonna be something like people who connected with xxx…. also connected with yyy….
Comment by Richard Byrom — February 6, 2008 @ 4:41 am
I'm surprised no one has seen it in action; it seems geared toward new users when they add you. I've used it for my less-social-app-literate friends who might not already know to comb through friend lists to see who else you both know is on there.
Comment by Cyndy Aleo-Carreira — February 6, 2008 @ 5:44 am
This is definitely interesting, even if probably an "obvious step". As others have said LinkedIn has a similar feature, if not more sophisticated, as it works withouth having to have a "friendly middle person".
While on UnLtdWorld, an online platform for social entrepreneurs, we have an application called "neighbourhoods" which leverages on meta-data to suggest connections dynamically, so again going beyond circles of acquaitances.
Comment by Alberto Nardelli — February 6, 2008 @ 7:49 am
I’m surprised no one has seen it in action; it seems geared toward new users when they add you. I’ve used it for my less-social-app-literate friends who might not already know to comb through friend lists to see who else you both know is on there.
Comment by Cyndy Aleo-Carreira — February 6, 2008 @ 9:44 am
This is definitely interesting, even if probably an “obvious step”. As others have said LinkedIn has a similar feature, if not more sophisticated, as it works withouth having to have a “friendly middle person”.
While on UnLtdWorld, an online platform for social entrepreneurs, we have an application called “neighbourhoods” which leverages on meta-data to suggest connections dynamically, so again going beyond circles of acquaitances.
Comment by Alberto Nardelli — February 6, 2008 @ 10:49 am
hmm, so if someone says they are interested in the opposite sex, will they deliver those results, becoming the next generation dating site? (just curious)
Comment by Anthony a.k.a. OldSc — February 7, 2008 @ 11:49 am
hmm, so if someone says they are interested in the opposite sex, will they deliver those results, becoming the next generation dating site? (just curious)
Comment by Anthony a.k.a. OldSchool — February 7, 2008 @ 2:49 pm
This is just f-u-c-k-3-d! The “feature” is a complete invasion of privacy, it sends emails as though YOU actually added someone as a friend, even though you don’t know them at all.
Worse yet, it adds anyone whomn you have 3 friends in common with, potentially looking like you’re trying to contact, for example, old girlfriends, when you’re not… Yes, that just happened!!!
Comment by John — March 5, 2008 @ 5:32 pm
a classmate of mine just joined and he has a "Suggest Friends for …"
I think this feature is pretty cool – how do I enable this for my other contacts?
Given I can't see my own profile as it looks for others – do I need to do anything to enable this feature on my own profile so people can suggest friends to me?
Comment by Chinarut — March 19, 2008 @ 12:28 pm
a classmate of mine just joined and he has a “Suggest Friends for …”
I think this feature is pretty cool – how do I enable this for my other contacts?
Given I can’t see my own profile as it looks for others – do I need to do anything to enable this feature on my own profile so people can suggest friends to me?
Comment by Chinarut — March 19, 2008 @ 4:28 pm
I hate this feature. Every day the same jerk that my friends know shows up on the right hand side of my facebook profile. I hope there is a way to delete or disable it.
Comment by portwineboy — March 26, 2008 @ 1:27 pm
Well facebook does this thru the 'find friends' menu – it is called 'People you may know' and is based on your existing connections
Comment by Chris — March 27, 2008 @ 5:53 am
Wow, this is great! No more digging through yearbooks to find old classmates!Totally a plus on the social media aspect, and yes – this would be great on LinkedIn. Expect them to deploy something like this in the next 2 months, for sure.
Comment by Eric Martindale — March 27, 2008 @ 6:04 am
Wow, this is great! No more digging through yearbooks to find old classmates!
Totally a plus on the social media aspect, and yes – this would be great on LinkedIn. Expect them to deploy something like this in the next 2 months, for sure.
Comment by Eric Martindale — March 27, 2008 @ 7:04 am
Well facebook does this thru the ‘find friends’ menu – it is called ‘People you may know’ and is based on your existing connections
Comment by Chris — March 27, 2008 @ 8:53 am
[...] this year I reported that Facebook would be adding a friend recommendation tool to the site. Just yesterday they turned [...]
Pingback by Facebook Adds People You Know - The Unofficial Facebook Blog — March 27, 2008 @ 10:43 am
I hate this feature. It should be optional and at the very least, there should be privacy features.
Comment by Kelly — August 16, 2008 @ 1:10 pm
I hate this feature. It should be optional and at the very least, there should be privacy features.
Comment by Kelly — August 16, 2008 @ 5:10 pm
this feature has worked wonders for me over the past 8 months!
Kelly, could you tell us a bit more about why you hate this feature? what happened?
Comment by Chinarut — November 19, 2008 @ 12:09 pm
why does this "suggest a friend for ___" only show up on some friends profiles?
Comment by joy — December 8, 2008 @ 10:49 am
How do people find you on Facebook? Do they only need to know your last name or can they also use your first name? How does Facebook connect friends?
Comment by Leeanna — December 8, 2008 @ 12:21 pm
another way to suggest friends without waiting to get a new friend, you can go to the bottom of your friends pages and click on "suggest a friend"
Comment by renae — December 12, 2008 @ 5:03 am
Just had someone appear in my 'friend finder' who Ive not heard from in years.Their profile doesnt have any friends, so we dont have any friends in common.
Additionally, I dont have their details listed anywhere on my PC (so its cant be a virus or trojan).
Any idea whats going on? Im a bit spooked!
Comment by ray — May 8, 2009 @ 4:48 am
So, my therapist from 5 years ago (before I was on facebook, before facebook was open to non-college students) was suggested as my friend on facebook. we have no mutual friends. We have never been in contact with each other outside of therapy other than a few phone calls (also 5 years ago)…how in the heck did they do this?
Comment by Pturb — May 8, 2009 @ 11:14 pm
Yeah, I actually deactivated my account, as I had a similar situation as above 2 people, except mine was the dreaded ex suggestion…I'm kind of intrigued as to how this suggestion thing works now, as it's not like we have a ton of people in common
Comment by James — June 11, 2009 @ 11:27 am
@ Pturb – the same thing just happened to me! Facebook suggested my therapist from before I was on facebook. We have no common friends. How the hell does facebook do this? This sounds illegal.
Comment by Joe — June 22, 2009 @ 2:15 am
I had this happen to me too, several times, with people I used to work with but haven't had contact with for years, and we have no friends in common. Is it possible that facebook can search your email account for people, or searches online for any webpage where both of your names are mentioned?
Comment by Janet — June 22, 2009 @ 12:10 pm
Yes!!! This happened to me too SEVERAL times, and all just very recently. How does facebook do this? It’s creeped me out enough times I’ve decided to look for an answer.
Comment by Danielle — July 2, 2009 @ 12:00 am
If you are logged onto MSN messenger, AIM, facebook searches for those people if you allow it too. Same with emails.
Stop being soo paranoid people. Because of that I was able to connect with some old friends without meaning too. Had their emails but that's it. Facebook automatically found them, I then added them as friends.
Comment by Peter — July 6, 2009 @ 5:25 pm
Same here! I had a friend say it happened to them and I assumed they must have had friends in common, but FB has just 'Suggested' a friend to me who I traveled with six years ago, haven't had contact with in five years, and we have NO common friends on FB. Yes, very weird, very spooky and REALLY want to know how they do it. Sounds dodgy to me.
Comment by Anita — July 7, 2009 @ 4:04 am
This crashed! How do i get it running again? Suggests a friend to me
Comment by Mark Matkowski — July 29, 2009 @ 6:28 pm
yeah..its very helpful..though, i find it hard to notice at first glance since it is in the bottom of the page for some profiles…
Comment by mong — August 15, 2009 @ 5:26 am
I signed up last night and let facebook go through my yahoo account to find friends but I declined the option to add any of them. I haven't even replied to the confirmation email yet. I have nothing visible about me except my name. I was trying to keep a low profile until I learned more about facebook and had a chance to read the privacy. The only visible is my first, last name. Still, I find that I have friend requests. It appears that I have no anonymity at all. I should have used a fake name.
Comment by joe — August 16, 2009 @ 5:52 am
What scares me the most ……. if they can get into my e-mail addresses without my permission , can they get my copies of my tax returns and other personal documents ?
Comment by Steve — August 20, 2009 @ 5:54 am
Well, here's my dilemma… facebook has a whole list of possible options, many if not most are just frikin gorgeous women… trouble is, i dont know a single darned one… where did it get this list from?
Comment by Doc Rock — October 4, 2009 @ 1:57 pm
How in the world do I confirm a friend on facebook? The instructions are just not clear to me. I have a few people as friends and family but don’t know how to confirm them.
Pat Zweizig
Comment by Patricia Zweizig — October 20, 2009 @ 4:36 pm
Facebook was suggesting friends to me by sending me their profile pictures. These were ‘friends of friends of friends etc.” If i wanted to, I could click on their profile and ‘add as a friend.’ I have since lost this feature. Anybody know how to enable it again?
Comment by Lynda — December 5, 2009 @ 12:09 am
This feature is creepier than many readers may recognize, and far more invasive than LinkedIn (from what I can tell by LinkedIn's suggestions, anyway).
Specifically: I am not even ON FB!
Yet when one relative invited me to join, FB accurately tracked down someone else I know only professionally (and who is not closely connected to the relative, except through me). The email addresses they use for me are completely different, and do not even contain the same parts of my name; and the "missing" part of my name was not contained in my relative's invitation.
Comment by J.M. — March 6, 2010 @ 1:58 pm
dear, i am afresh metallurgical engineer working in multan,ok
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