to be horrified that people may know I've viewed their Facebook page?

[icouldjusteatacroissant]

Facebook deny it, but there's massive talk on the net that if you look at someone's page, you pop up on their suggested list or people you may know list. Maybe not straight away, but you do appear at some point

Am I the only one who looks at their ex's or whoevers pages, photos, etc?

I am horrified they may know I've been snooping

Out of interest do you follow mumsnet on facebook? Not that it matters, as your computer has already told Facebook you use MN. That's where the connection arises. If you've ever had to report a thread for deletion, the time taken suggests to me that the MN staff aren't blessed with a lot of time, pretty sure they don't bother having multiple people "stalk" MN users to see if they are real, when they already have IP software to check you aren't a bot

I don't follow mumsnet and facebook and I don't actually see how my computer would have told it that I do. I certainly have never given permission for that to be communicated.

Or, from what you've posted up there, someone who isn't particularly fluent with current technology & just how integrated it all is, not understanding what is happening......

I know which one I'm betting on!

Alternatively perhaps I do have a good understanding of technology but choose not to use social media.

Send an email - cookie from Gmail etc, go on Facebook - it has a look at your cookies to tailor the ads on the sidebar, see's cookie from Gmail and hoovers up that info.

So if I send an e mail to a friend via gmail it will leave a cookie for facebook so they know the address of the person I have contacted? Seriously?

There aren't any ads on the sidebar when I go onto facebook. As I said, I only go on it about twice a year. I clear out cookies a couple of times a week from my computer so it wouldn't get much information anyway.

Look at your cookies before you clear them - I suspect you will be surprised by how many there are. Each of those cookies was issued by a particular website. Whenever you visit any other website there is a very good chance that the original website will know what website you have visited, down to the level of which pages.

So if I send an e mail to a friend via gmail it will leave a cookie for facebook so they know the address of the person I have contacted? Seriously?

Yes, seriously.

You might have an ad-blocker installed that prevents the ad appearing in the sidebar but they information is still there.

Dunno why I'm still banging my head against a brick wall on this one, but for those of you who still think this is happening why??????

Why would Facebook risk probably 50% of their membership to do this? Why would Facebook have unknown pervs suggested in your suggestions? It would scare people off the site. They gain nothing from pushing suggestions on you that are either of no interest or at the worst end of the scale are intimidating breaches of privacy
Why why why would they risk billions and billions of pounds on this? Nobody has given a single reason why it would be in their interests, we have lots of reasons why it wouldn't be in their interest, but none why it would be.

Dunno why I'm still banging my head against a brick wall on this one

I've had a go & am now giving up.

Easier to blame a conspiracy/pixies/God than to own up to not knowing how things work I guess....

In Brazil, banks give loans to people who have no bank accounts, no credit history and who live in shanty towns. Crazy, right? Only it's not.

They assess their credit risk by collecting data about their age, the make up of their family, where they shop, how often they use the bus and where they travel to etc etc. It's very, very accurate way of assessing whether someone is credit worthy. And the data is anonymised so companies can sell it without falling foul of data protection legislation.

FB collects enormous amounts of info about you every time you sit down at your computer or switch on your phone.

Those of you blaming sky pixies Don't know the half of it

So your credit worthiness is assessed using Facebook?

Not in the UK no. But in emerging economies, yes

... FB will have this linked as an interest now till the end of your days

This is why I make the effort to train my ad feed on FB & Twitter. I know it doesn't make much difference to my social profile, but it does make my browsing experience more decorative! I know I'm on top of it when all I see are holiday resorts and gardens.

Digression, but it's worth mentioning on any data-gathering thread imo.

Of course anyone who gives anyone/thing the login details for their email deserves all they get.

The Jobcentre once instructed me to log into my Gmail on their computer. I said I don't know my password because I use a generator (true) and that I couldn't access it from my phone (untrue).

This has, apparently, been standard practice for some time and many people are told they can't get their benefits unless they give JCP their email login I think there was a test case where a young man was sanctioned for refusing to share it.

"People you know suggestions are based on emails and phone numbers."

um... I am impressed if FB got info off my ancient brickphone.

I snooped (maybe 4 yrs ago) to find old boyfriend´s wife. Have not looked at her page in yrs, then suddenly she popped up as suggested friend. I sure as flippin´heck don´t have her phone or email, we have NO mutual friends (in real life & says FB). The only reason she came up, I thought,was because I had snooped so long ago & FB was bored. I checked her pg & sure enough FB has suggested her again a few times more.

I don´t care if she has looked for me but am mortified she may know I snooped on her.

I am impressed if FB got info off my ancient brickphone

They don't have to get it off of your phone.

Your number and email will be listed in someone's Gmail contact, or on their Android/Iphone, and they'll be on Facebook.....

Doesn't matter how much you try to keep your name & details unlinked, it'll happen.....

okay, so you´re saying
I corresponded with Sally Beebob, who still has my email addy on her electronic contacts. BUT

Sally is friends with Melody Zoggs (ex boyf´s wife). It was browsing thru Sally´s friends on FB that made me find Melody´s pg.
FB never suggests I might like to be friends with any of Sally´s other friends, ONLY Melody. I never get any other suggestions for potential friends who aren´t mutual to someone I know.

WHY only Melody???

I don't care if someone I dislike thinks if I've been looking them up on Facebook. Feel free to have a nose at my profile as well my dear haters.

Because YOU were looking at Melody's profile!!
Of course FB might recommend her as a friend, YOU were doing the searching.
It's the other way round people here are debating

Sure, but still surprised her name popped up several years after I had briefly looked at her profile.

How many names of people you don't know have popped up in those several years?

Has she just upgraded from her ancient brickphone?

Many reasons, Mark Zuckerberg benefiting financially in some way from the 2 of you re-connecting is pretty near the bottom of the list though.....

I suppose it´s correct that strangers without mutual friends pop up occasionally. They always seem to live in my area, not the XCity area 4000 miles away where Sally & Melody live (I know nobody at all else there, & I never seem to get suggestions for any body else in that area).

Sally Z. is a hardcore geek & developer, she probably last had a brick phone in 1995. We last corresponded briefly by email about 10-12 yrs ago. Do I even have same email addy I had then.

I occasionally end up looking at strangers´ FB pages, but just cannot remember any others, yrs later, popping up as suggested friends.

bloody hell, teach me not to snoop. I was only curious what ex-Boyf. looked like yrs after we last met.

Gawd, some people are finding this whole thing really hard to grasp, aren't they - doesn't matter how many times you explain it!

So if I send an e mail to a friend via gmail it will leave a cookie for facebook so they know the address of the person I have contacted? Seriously?

Yes, seriously.

You might have an ad-blocker installed that prevents the ad appearing in the sidebar but they information is still there.

So you are saying that if I send an email to someone via gmail, facebook will (next time I log in several months later) pick up that persons address and then contact that person to ask if I know them? And it would do this even if my facebook e mail is different to the email I use to contact friends. If that is true I think it worse invasion of privacy than the one suggested in the OP. It is easy to avoid searching for people on facebook, but not so easy to avoid ever emailing someone.

Regardless, I rarely use gmail to contact friends or colleagues (use work email) and at the time the it happened to me (2006/07) I don't think g mail existed.

Why would Facebook risk probably 50% of their membership to do this? Why would Facebook have unknown pervs suggested in your suggestions? It would scare people off the site. They gain nothing from pushing suggestions on you that are either of no interest or at the worst end of the scale are intimidating breaches of privacy
Why why why would they risk billions and billions of pounds on this? Nobody has given a single reason why it would be in their interests, we have lots of reasons why it wouldn't be in their interest, but none why it would be.

As I said, I don't know if this happens now. I am saying that it used to happen, going by my experience. Maybe facebook realised it wasn't a good idea, stopped doing it and then issued denials. Having said that, I doubt that if they did still do it they would be risking 50% of their membership and billions of pounds. Going by this thread, it seems to me that they can do what they like and many people will either not believe that they have done it or they don't care as they are quite happy to have their privacy invaded.

Actually I do think it's in their interests. Their whole purpose is to keep new people connecting and networking in order to increase advertising exposure and therefore revenue. The endless random and frequently very tenuous friends suggestions are facebooks equivalent of junk mail. They know that the vast majority of these suggestions are not of interest but If even a tiny fraction of these friends suggestions are acted upon they each unlock more secret doors that have new treasure behind them, and on and on it goes.

My DH left a job recently. He doesn't have FB but I do and I am friends with his work colleagues, those that are our shared personal friends, on FB.

I periodically look at FB friend suggestions etc. We laughed out loud recently as every friend suggestion came from his industry and was the sort to have likely to have been looking at what he might have been up to next. Friends of friends etc (but not all of them) but think HR department head, competitor in another firm, someone else after the next job etc. Person in direct competition for the next job, the shortlist. People he had interviewed with etc. Sure some were likely friend of friends but I think all of them had likely looked at my profile to possibly see where he was at as per other jobs? All my usual 'friend suggestions' were much further down the list. These people have never appeared in my list before. I also note an ex that appears in the top 3 friend suggestions. He is friends with other friends of mine but he is usually near the top of the suggestions. Someone mentioned upthread that something upweights suggestions?

Other things that make me think there is something else going on: school counsellor came up in friend suggestion list when I had an issue with my son at school. Hadn't escalated to the counsellor. No other teachers etc appearing as suggestions that are all friends of friends. I hadn't approached the counsellor but she was likely looking at my profile I think.

An old babysitter from 1998 also came up. I couldn't understand why her photo was familiar. She's married since (hence different name) and we don't live in the same country. We lost touch in 1999. I have no friends in common, nothing in common at all and we are geographically thousands of miles apart.
Suddenly it clicked as to who she was...

If that is true I think it worse invasion of privacy than the one suggested in the OP

It's not an invasion of privacy though is it? You've agreed that Google can use or share your information with "selected partners".

If you're not paying for the product, you are the product.....