This is creepy

Does anyone know how Facebook works? Or, more precisely, how it can be that today it recommended Gio to me as a possible “friend”? I have never met Gio. I am not “friends” with anyone on this blog. I am not aware of traveling in any circles in common with Gio. She and I disagree about every movie ever made. And yet Facebook has somehow ferreted out this slim connection. I recently re-watched Enemy of the State and nothing the CIA could do in that movie comes close to this kind of deep knowledge produced by some software algorithm.

9 thoughts on “This is creepy”

  1. You guys must have some other deep-rooted connection… or perhaps you both circle ’round the same facebook pages? (Do you lurk on Arnab’s page, seeking every little snippet of info about him you can get, like I do? Oh sweet Arnab…)

    I like how you put friends in quotations. *sob*

  4. I assumed that, and I’m perfectly fine with it. But it does not explain why Gio would pop up as a suggestion for my Facebook account.

  5. one possibility might be that you and gio use yahoo or similar for email and have those emails listed on facebook. if you’ve ever emailed each other facebook may be automatically pulling address book information from the email providers they’re associated with. or have you both posted links to this site on your profiles?

    this is all speculation. i myself keep getting recommendations to add one “michael howler” as a friend. i assume this is our own frisoli, but how facebook knows to suggest him to me, i have no idea.

    the other possibility is that your post is a cry for help, that you need more “friends”. i will therefore send you a “friend” request.

  6. i’m going to try not to take this personally.

    but seriously, simon and i discuss this every day. the other day facebook recommended to me an italian friend from ye olden times whom i haven’t seen in ages and is not friends with any of my italian (or non-italian) friends. it creeps me out, too. before facebook, i had decided to keep my online presence to a minimum, and that meant (to me) never using my full name unless absolutely necessary. but with facebook i broke down and now use my full name. there is only one me in the world. everyone can find me. and even if they cannot find me with my name, they can find me with my IP. there is now even a way to find who searches for you! we gotta get off the nets. it’s easy for mike reynolds to talk, or for you chris, or jeff, but me, simon, and arnab, we are fucked.

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