How does linkedin find suggested contacts?

[Haahoooo]

Does anyone know this? It's really confusing me...

Two contacts have just been suggested to me:

• The estate agent who sold our apartment five years ago, and who I only ever contacted over phone or work email at the time and not at all since.

• The husband of a friend of mine, who I have never contacted over phone or email, only spoken to in person. My friend and I usually communicate via whatsapp but are not connected on LinkedIn or Facebook...

Any ideas?

Thank you!

Some of these apps use your e-mail contact information. They generally ask for permission but it means that any mobile numbers, e-mail addresses, etc, may be used.

I hardly use LinkedIn, but among those people it recommended was a lecturer from a department in the same building I worked in, in 1989.

I had very little contact with her, and had not been in contact at all in the intervening years, nor did I know her job movements etc. She had remained in Brighton, I moved to N Wales in 1990 and am on Merseyside now.

Frankly astonished that she, of all the people at the Polytechnic, could have been identified as a suitable 'contact' when I worked with some 30-40 others for 10+ years and there had been other lecturers in the Dept. of Computing who had been tutors on courses I took, so had closer ties, if anyone did!

PS On my LinkedIn profile, I only used my first and middle names (to be more anonymous but still have access for searches), so even my full name isn't known (*) to LinkedIn, yet it finds people!

(*) as far as I know... who knows WTF they have on us !

PPS I have never used Facebook, registered for Twitter in 2011 but don't use it, and hardly use WhatsApp excepts with my 3 sisters. Your links are even more puzzling than mine!

Thanks for replying. Yes all very odd.

Someone said that maybe those people would have searched for me and that gets logged somehow. But I don't know why they would really - don't know them professionally. Very confusing...