Freaky Facebook Knows Me Better Than I Do!

Silver King · Jun 10, 2009

Something weird happened earlier today.

A person I know has been bothering me to check out his Facebook page. I found him on there but couldn't see much unless I created an account. I don't plan on participating there, so I set up an alias just so I could access his page and see what all the fuss was about.

As I was navigating about, trying to get my bearings, a page showed up with several accounts, asking me if I wanted to "friend" any of the members who were listed. One of the names caught my eye, a person who is a member of AW. As I read further, more and more AW members appeared. Then I saw my niece's name, my sister-in-law, a couple of friends and a cousin I haven't spoken to in years.

This really gave me the willies, and I logged off without participating further.

What I'm wondering is, how in the world does Facebook "know" I'm associated with these people in any way? I didn't use any personal info to create the account, so how can they possibly cross-reference me with "friends" I actually know?

wannawrite · Jun 10, 2009

creepy

aadams73 · Jun 10, 2009

Facebook scares me even though I have an account. My cousins keep stalking me, and when I don't respond they get pissy and email my mother to whine about it. Which--being the stubborn wench that I am--means I defer responding for even longer periods of time.*

So how does it know who you are and who you know? Computers know everything, doncha know?

*This results in them calling me on Skype and showing me their butts.

som1luvsmi · Jun 10, 2009

Did you use your regular email to set it up? They may have gotten the info based on that. :Shrug:

rhymegirl · Jun 10, 2009

I tried to do the Facebook thing but I kept getting these emails telling me these teenaged boys wanted to friend me and that was just too weird. Maybe they think I'm a cougar?

Rachel · Jun 10, 2009

I was going to say... the e-mail. The can take info from e-mail accounts.

brainstorm77 · Jun 10, 2009

If you put in a email thats linked to some sort of messenger yeah it can read your list and get names that way.
Then it starts suggesting friends of friends etc...

Silver King · Jun 10, 2009

aadams73 said:
...So how does it know who you are and who you know? Computers know everything, doncha know?

I'm beginning to believe that more and more. I had the strangest feeling, though, seeing all of those accounts appear that belong to people I know within only minutes of joining up. It was like a magic trick, only it was no illusion.

som1luvsmi said:
Did you use your regular email to set it up? They may have gotten the info based on that.

Yes, I did use my e-mail account, but I've never contacted nor been contacted by most of the "friends" who were listed. And the name that really blew me away was my cousin, who I haven't spoken to in over twenty years.

som1luvsmi · Jun 10, 2009

Maybe your computer is possessed and trying to freak you out.

Have you noticed any furniture moving randomly of its own volition?

Silver King · Jun 10, 2009

som1luvsmi said:
Maybe your computer is possessed and trying to freak you out...

You may have a point I hadn't thought of: Occasionally my keyboard starts tapping out posts here when I'm not paying attention. Some would call it an alter-ego, but that can't be possible when my fingers never touch the keys. And that ghost curses way more than I ever do!

BigWords · Jun 10, 2009

*thinking aloud*

Facebook is Skynet...

Skynet is evil...

:idea:

Facebook must be destroyed before we are all killed in a nuclear war with the machines.

Pagey's_Girl · Jun 10, 2009

That's creepy. Another reason to stay well away from there.

A friend of mine has been bugging the heck out of me to set up a MySpace page solely so I can friend the infamous Jamie-from-my-sig-line. Gawd. That makes me feel creepy just thinking about it. Too stalkerish. The Fixx isn't exactly Flight of the Conchords, and I'm not Mel...

Silver King · Jun 10, 2009

I should mention that I'm not implying there's anything wrong with Facebook or the people who enjoy the site. I'm merely trying to figure out how they figured me out.

So far, the culprit seems to be my e-mail address, even though I've never used it to communicate with nearly all of the "friends" I recognized.

KTC · Jun 10, 2009

Silver King said:
Something weird happened earlier today.

A person I know has been bothering me to check out his Facebook page. I found him on there but couldn't see much unless I created an account. I don't plan on participating there, so I set up an alias just so I could access his page and see what all the fuss was about.

As I was navigating about, trying to get my bearings, a page showed up with several accounts, asking me if I wanted to "friend" any of the members who were listed. One of the names caught my eye, a person who is a member of AW. As I read further, more and more AW members appeared. Then I saw my niece's name, my sister-in-law, a couple of friends and a cousin I haven't spoken to in years.

This really gave me the willies, and I logged off without participating further.

What I'm wondering is, how in the world does Facebook "know" I'm associated with these people in any way? I didn't use any personal info to create the account, so how can they possibly cross-reference me with "friends" I actually know?

Are they in the email contacts list of the email address you signed on with? Barring that, are they also fish?

KTC · Jun 10, 2009

Silver King said:
I should mention that I'm not implying there's anything wrong with Facebook or the people who enjoy the site. I'm merely trying to figure out how they figured me out.

So far, the culprit seems to be my e-mail address, even though I've never used it to communicate with nearly all of the "friends" I recognized.

If you have say 3 of the 'friends' as email contacts, it may choose those three...and then other 'friends' that those ones share in common. Mayhaps.

KTC · Jun 10, 2009

rhymegirl said:
I tried to do the Facebook thing but I kept getting these emails telling me these teenaged boys wanted to friend me and that was just too weird. Maybe they think I'm a cougar?

first burst out loud laugh of the day. i think i just peed a little.

som1luvsmi · Jun 10, 2009

Maybe Facebook is just a front for Homeland Security and they already know everything about you.

There's a spooky thought.

BigWords · Jun 10, 2009

I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members.

Groucho Marx

(AW excluded from that statement

)

Silver King · Jun 10, 2009

KTC said:
If you have say 3 of the 'friends' as email contacts, it may choose those three...and then other 'friends' that those ones share in common. Mayhaps.

That makes sense, a six degrees of separation type thing (or in your example, three degrees, or maybe even two).

Whatever they use to make the connection, it works quick, I mean within moments of joining up. The last thing I expected was to see all of those familiar "faces." It was unsettling in way, like people jumping out of the dark all at once on all sides.

Oh, well. My venture into social networking lasted all of five minutes, a bit shy of what I expected.

rhymegirl · Jun 10, 2009

KTC said:
first burst out loud laugh of the day. i think i just peed a little.

Oh yeah? Why is that funny? Funny how? How exactly do I make you laugh, mr. kevin? Am I funny to you? (lines from Goodfellas, in case anyone is wonderin')

But seriously, what? You don't think I could be a cougar?

KTC · Jun 10, 2009

Silver King said:
That makes sense, a six degrees of separation type thing (or in your example, three degrees, or maybe even two).

Whatever they use to make the connection, it works quick, I mean within moments of joining up. The last thing I expected was to see all of those familiar "faces." It was unsettling in way, like people jumping out of the dark all at once on all sides.

Oh, well. My venture into social networking lasted all of five minutes, a bit shy of what I expected.

You can tell me why it really scared you. I was one of those suggested friends, wasn't I!

**Insert evil laughter here**

Ken · Jun 10, 2009

... good thing your wife wasn't looking over your shoulder at the time, SK. ;-)
Kidding, kidding!

rhymegirl · Jun 10, 2009

Cue ghostly music:

Silver King! This is the spirit of Facebook! Get back over to our site. We know everything about you. You cannot hide!

spamwarrior · Jun 10, 2009

I'd say the email things. On the other hand, if you're friends with one person, facebook will recommend friends that you should add based on that one person. If all your friends are also friends with the one person you're friends with, facebook keeps records of that.

Silver King · Jun 10, 2009

KTC said:
You can tell me why it really scared you. I was one of those suggested friends, wasn't I!

**Insert evil laughter here**

No, it wasn't that bad.

Ken said:
... good thing your wife wasn't looking over your shoulder at the time, SK. ;-)
Kidding, kidding!

Funny you should say that, since most of the "friends" were women! She would've scoffed, in that high nasal tone of hers, and said, "They must not know you as well as I do or they'd put you on their enemies list."

Freaky Facebook Knows Me Better Than I Do!

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