How Does This Work?

[Chris Parks]

I was sitting down having a cup of tea and Mrs P. is on the internet and suddenly asked me if I knew so & so and I think to myself.... there's a blast from the past. She was looking at Facebook for some reason as she only uses it for family reasons and apparently this bloke's name had popped up in her FB thingy, I haven't got FB and never have had it so I don't know how these things work. She has never met the man, I haven't seen him in maybe six or seven years so how would FB connect two people who do not have any connection. Does it randomly connect people for some reason or does it get desperate when it can't find any more reasons to connect him with anyone or my wife with anyone so it has a shot in the dark to see what happens.

[derekcohen]

Chris

Big Brother is watching you!

The "man" is connected to someone to whom she is connected. The software makes the link - that is what FB is doing. Constantly linking everyone - and sends a notification suggesting that you link up.

I avoid FB except to read family messages. I very, very rarely even "like" someone's post, as that is sending a link message - everyone I am linked to will know I "liked" something!

As a shrink, I find it "interesting" (as in a morbidly curious manner) how the boundaries of privacy and confidentiality have eroded and disappeared with social media. Even on woodworking forums you find descriptions and details of some quite personal information.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Chris Parks]

Chris

Big Brother is watching you!

The "man" is connected to someone to whom she is connected. The software makes the link - that is what FB is doing. Constantly linking everyone - and sends a notification suggesting that you link up.

Derek, I find it hard to believe that Mrs P. could be even remotely linked to the man but coincidence does happen of course. What I think has happened is that his email contacts still have me in his list even after we ceased contact at least seven years ago and FB has noticed the way our surname is spelled which while a common spelling in the US here in Oz it is unusual. What an insidious piece of software it is with few of any redeeming features except to gather data. I think it was someone from Woolworths who said the other day that they don't sell food they gather data or words to that effect.

[China]

One of the many reasons I don't ad won't use facebook

[BobL]

I was sitting down having a cup of tea and Mrs P. is on the internet and suddenly asked me if I knew so & so and I think to myself.... there's a blast from the past. She was looking at Facebook for some reason as she only uses it for family reasons and apparently this bloke's name had popped up in her FB thingy, I haven't got FB and never have had it so I don't know how these things work. She has never met the man, I haven't seen him in maybe six or seven years so how would FB connect two people who do not have any connection.

Surname and email connection is a fairly common ploy.
Sometimes it's an indirect linkage, if I have a "Kraznowski" or an email listed amongst my friends and so does some random FB user, then FB will suggest that I and the random user might know each other.
Indirect Education or work place links are also sometimes used.

If you use the Face Book Purity "add on" you see very little or none of this nonsense.
FB hate it because you can configure FB to what you want to see.
In turn FB manipulates itself to tell you what it thinks you should see so you might miss out seeing what less active friends post.

[Twisted Tenon]

I notice that whatever I’m looking something up on the interwebby that adverts for that particular item start popping up on my Face Book feed.

TT

[Kuffy]

If I was to use my Facebook account and search "chris parks" and your account comes up as one of many possible results. I then click your name and take a gander at your profile and then move along without messaging you or not clicking like on any of your posts etc. facebook watches these actions and considers that I "may" know you, so they suggest my profile to you. If your wife has you listed as her better/worse half, facebook is clever enough to know that sheilas love social media, but men....not so much. So they suggest your mate to her hoping she says "hey! do you know this bloke???". Even if your wife doesn't have you listed as her husband, the internet is a very small place and many things can be gleaned just from unnamed shopping receipts.

[BobL]

I notice that whatever I’m looking something up on the interwebby that adverts for that particular item start popping up on my Face Book feed.
TT

This doesn't happen if you use the FB Purity add on.
I initially registered as a male but got tired of the ads for Asian Brides so I changed my status to female but then got ads for feminine hygiene products.
Then I installed FB Purity and now I get no ads.
It doesn't mean the internet is not collecting all manner of data about me but at least it's not shoving it back into my face via FB.

[Twisted Tenon]

This doesn't happen if you use the FB Purity add on.
I initially registered as a male but got tired of the ads for Asian Brides so I changed my status to female but then got ads for feminine hygiene products.
Then I installed FB Purity and now I get no ads.
It doesn't mean the internet is not collecting all manner of data about me but at least it's not shoving it back into my face via FB.

How do I get hold of that Bob?

[FenceFurniture]

People keep talking about the various targeted or otherwise adverts they are pounded with.

For Firefox I installed Ad Block about 7 years ago.

Advertising? Wot dat? I don't see any, on any site.

I got into the habit of using Chrome for SBS on Demand and ABC iview, and installed an Ad Block there. For SBS i only see adverts when I whitelist the site (as I have to to get a pgm change) but then i "resume blocking" and see no adverts - not even during the pgm (it just skips over them). For Nine Now it's completely seamless (no temp whitelisting needed). Not that there's anything on Nine I want to watch - the exception was Forged in Fire (story of the Cricket Ashes history).

[Twisted Tenon]

Don’t worry, found it. It won’t work on iPads or iPhones, just desk top computers.

TT

[BobL]

How do I get hold of that Bob?

F.B. Purity - Clean up and Customize Facebook

If you are only worried about ads then use adblocker, but FB purity does a lot more than block ads

Below shows one of the many FBPurity control window available from within the FB page and all you do is check what you want or don't want to see.
eg I get it to block all stuff that is reposted by "friends" so I only see what friends post directly themselves.
Note how you can block the "people you may know" which is 6th on the list of "More options"/

The down side is is that it is not that easy to install as it requires a separate ad-on to be installed as well but this is all explained in the link above.


Screen Shot 2018-01-19 at 7.53.09 am.png

[tonzeyd]

Hi Chris,

Facebooks algorithm is pretty desperate, all it takes is for someone to know someone and it'll appear on your facebook. Or if one of her friends "likes" or "comments" or whatever a post of said individual then they'll appear. The "do you know" section is even more desperate as they start linking all kinds of things to compile that list.

Apparently everyone is separated by 4 degrees so it wouldn't take long to establish a link.

[Chris Parks]

I am sure the link is the surname and I suppose it follows because I have sent my wife emails and links and FB can't do anything about someone who does not have a page they go to the closest connection to me that being my wife. I suppose people must have good reasons to use FB and I can't criticise that but I will never be a part of it if only to deny them information and no other reason. When it started I thought it was a really good idea because it was marketed as a good way to stay in contact with family and friends which is far away from what it has become, but then they most probably knew where it was going to go all the time and were just sucking people in.

[ian]

I was sitting down having a cup of tea and Mrs P. is on the internet and suddenly asked me if I knew so & so and I think to myself.... there's a blast from the past. She was looking at Facebook for some reason as she only uses it for family reasons and apparently this bloke's name had popped up in her FB thingy, I haven't got FB and never have had it so I don't know how these things work. She has never met the man, I haven't seen him in maybe six or seven years so how would FB connect two people who do not have any connection. Does it randomly connect people for some reason or does it get desperate when it can't find any more reasons to connect him with anyone or my wife with anyone so it has a shot in the dark to see what happens.

if only ...

I believe that between them, Facebook, Google and Amazon are spending more on AI (artificial intelligence) than any other entity except possibly the NSA and Russian "black ops".

There will be a tenuous connection between your "blast from the past" and Mrs P -- either a friend of a friend of a friend, or an email address or something.
In terms of suggesting what that link is, it would help to know if Mrs P received a friend request, a "do you know ..." based on a shared like or link (which would suggest a common interest).

In terms of hiding from FB, it's more than just not using the systems. Everyone you know who might include your image or name in a post must also refrain from using FB. The AI algorithms will find you through something as casual as a post like "went to Bundeena today and bumped into Georgie" which is connected via the AI algorithms to a post by Georgie along the lines of "remember Mrs P from school? Bumped into her and Chris today."