Facebook’s algorithm can fail and show you friend suggestions from people you don’t know.
It is no secret to anyone that Facebook, in its attempts to guarantee the connection and interaction of all users, has implemented a series of features for this. On this social network, you can not only communicate with others through private messages or video calls, but also interact with the content that is shared and much more. Additionally, the company is always improving its algorithm to connect people. And an example of this is the friend suggestions feature.
It is likely that sometime have you been browsing Facebook and, suddenly, you have reached a “Friendship Suggestions” section where the platform shows you some users that you might know, with the intention that you add them to your friends list. This can be fine, to a point, but it can also show you unknown people and this can be annoying.
So we have prepared this post in which we will explain Why do you get friend suggestions on Facebook? from people you don’t know and how to avoid this functionality.
How friend suggestions work on Facebook
This is how friend suggestions work on Facebook, a feature to connect people
As you may already know, Facebook, like other popular platforms, works with algorithms that take care of many tasks, such as studying your interactions and behavior to offer you personalized ads. And one of the newest features is suggested content.
This means that Facebook, now, can suggest some groups for you to join, based on your interactions on the platform. And if you have joined one, you should also know how to get out of it. But there are also friendship suggestions.
Basically, this Facebook feature, through an algorithm, is responsible for analyze certain patterns and information to show you people that you could know. This way, you can add them to your friends list.
The parameters used by the algorithm are very varied. For example, if this person has frequently visited your profile, the platform could take this to mean that it is someone you know and show it to you in the suggested list. But that’s not all, since, if you have your friends section in public, the social network can look at the common contacts you have with another and make this decision.
You can also use the information about your last trips or place of residence, since the social network can look at where you live and if you match with someone elseit may be indicative that they know each other and it shows it to you among those suggested.
There are many factors that the algorithm can use to match people, whether are in some grouphaving been tagged in the same photograph, having studied at the same institute, among many more.
Why do strangers receive friend suggestions on Facebook?
Find out why you receive friend suggestions on Facebook from people you don’t know
The “People You May Know” section on Facebook can not only show yourself to people you really know, but also to complete strangers. And this may be due to two important reasons.
First of all, if you receive friend suggestions from strangers on Facebook, It could be a platform error.. This “People You May Know” section is constantly updated in order to show you people you might know in real life. However, the algorithm is not perfect and can present problems. In fact, it is important that you know what the most common errors on the platform are.
Another important reason for this problem to occur has directly to do with the fact that You have your friends list set to “private”. This prevents the algorithm from querying the people you have added and comparing them to other people’s lists to identify matches. Then the suggestions may not be as precise and, as expected, fail.
How to stop Facebook from sending friend suggestions
Whether you are concerned about your privacy within the platform, or simply you don’t want to be adding new peoplethen you can set Facebook to not show you friend suggestions.
The first thing you can try is, when the “People you may know” section appears, Click on the “X” in this section to close it. Although you can also choose to block those people who you do not want to add you to their friends list on Facebook and, to do this, you must visit their profile.