If you are an avid Facebook user, you must come across the ‘People you may know’ list going through your feed. Sometimes you find your long-lost friends in this list, and other times, just random strangers. But how do these suggestions work? Let’s find out how does Facebook’s “People You May Know” works!
Facebook is the pioneer of the social media world. It was the first app that made connecting with your long-lost friends easy and convenient. Through this section, you can find people you may have forgotten about. If your Facebook friend recently added someone to their profile, you can find that person, too, in your recommendations.
But how does this algorithm work? Without further ado, let’s jump into the topic and learn how does Facebook’s “People You May Know” works?
In This Article
What Does “People You May Know” Mean on Facebook?
“People you may know” is a list of Friends suggestions that appear in between your feeds on Facebook, and you will also find a detected space for these suggestions in your Friends section. This list shows the profiles of people whom you might know and would like to be friends with. In this list, you mostly find friends of friends or people you have personal information shared with Facebook in common.
How Does Facebook’s “People You May Know” Work?
Now that you know what does “People You May Know” mean on Facebook, a question might be coming to your mind-how does Facebook’s “People You May Know” work, or how can Facebook suggest random people, considering them to be your known?
To make sense of it, you need to understand the working of the Facebook algorithm that works behind the friends’ suggestions.
Facebook has access to your personal information, like the school you went to, the college you were in, the place you work at, your city/town, your friends list, etc. And when Facebook find someone with similar details like the same school, college, city, or workplace, it adds this person’s profile as one of the suggestions to your People You May Know list so that you can connect with them if you wish to.
Even if you are tagged in a post with some people, their profiles can show up in your suggestions list because the Facebook algorithm detected that you and the other persons are tagged in a post, which means you are connected in some way and can be Facebook Friends.
You text a new contact on Whatsapp, the next thing you know is the profile of that person showing up on FB "People You May Know" Section!
— Obaid (@Obaidverse) April 17, 2023
Wotz this behaviour, Zuckerberg
People are also suspicious about their contact information being accessed by Facebook to make suggestions. And now that Whatsapp is owned by the same company that owns Facebook, there is a possibility your contact information is also used to suggest friends.
Many claimed that Facebook users with whom they have no mutual are there on the suggestion list the very next day they saved their contact in the phone.
How to Turn Off “People You May Know” on Facebook?
If you don’t want to see the People You May Know section on Facebook, Here is your step-by-step guide on how to turn off friends suggestions on Facebook.
Step 1: Open the Facebook app.
Step 2: Tap on the Menu icon in the top-right corner.
Step 3: In the Notification settings, select People You May Know.
Step 4: Turn the toggle off next to every option you find under this section.
And with this, you are done! This is how you turn off ‘People You May Know’ on Facebook.
Wrapping Up
With this, I come to the end of this blog, and I hope you now know how does Facebook’s “People You May Know” Works. You can manage the information used by People You May know by changing your Privacy setting and can also avoid appearing on this list.
So, guys, that is it for today. Take care! And yeah, for any further queries related to Facebook and its features, you can comment in the comments section below. Also, keep visiting our website, Path of EX, for more such queries related to Social media, Gaming, and Technology. Till then, Bye! Bye!
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does people you may know on Facebook show people who look at your profile?
No, the people you may know on Facebook don’t show people who look at your profile, as Facebook clarified that it does not report to any Facebook user who’s visiting their Facebook page.
2. How do you avoid appearing on people you may know on Facebook?
To avoid appearing in the People you may know section on Facebook, you need to change your privacy settings.
Step 1: Open the Facebook app.
Step 2: Tap on your profile picture at the top right.
Step 3: Tap on the Settings icon at the top.
Step 4: Scroll down to Audience and Visibility.
Step 5: Tap on How people find and contact you.
Step 6: Next to Who can send you friends requests, select Friends of Friends.
Step 7: For Who can see your Friends list, select Only Me option.
3. Who shows up in people you may know?
People who have things in common with you, like mutual friends, school, workplace, city, etc.
4. Can you remove yourself from people you may know?
No, you cannot remove yourself from the people you may know section. But you can manage information used for People you may know suggestions, and appear less on this list by changing the privacy settings of your friend list and by limiting who can send you friends requests.
