One of the leading features of Facebook is its suggested friends tool – helping users to connect with other users who they might know, based on details like mutual friends, location, interests, and more.
But where do you find suggested friends and how exactly does it work?
Where to Find Suggested Facebook Friends
There are two main ways of finding your suggested friends from Facebook.
The first is in your news feed. As you scroll down your feed, suggested friends will appear in a carousel – inviting you to ignore the suggestions or add the users as friends and await their response.
The second place you will find suggested friends is in your profile’s ‘Friends’ menu. To access this, click on the menu button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen and select ‘Friends’ from the block menu. At the top of the Frend requests list, select ‘Suggestions’. This will open a full list of suggested friends that Facebook thinks you may want to connect with.
How Does Facebook Find Friends to Suggest?
Now that you know how to find your suggested friends, you might be wondering what algorithm Facebook uses to determine which friends to show.
Typically, suggested friends are identified by the following criteria:
- Mutual friends
- Phone contacts
- Profile visits and whether you have interacted with similar posts
- Targeted ads and whether you have the same interests
- Location or work information
While there may be some names and users in your suggested friends that seem random, especially if there aren’t any mutual friends connecting you, it may be that you have interacted on the same posts or have similar education, work, or location information.
The Benefit of Facebook’s Suggested Friends Feature
Before we leave you to browse your own suggested friends and see who Facebook thinks you might want to be friends with, let’s consider the benefits of this feature.
Facebook’s suggested friends helps Facebook users to find more users and people to connect with. By relying on a combination of personal information and data that’s connected with the way you use Facebook, the aim is to connect users who have common interests.
This is particularly beneficial to those building their profile and looking to connect with users who may be interested in what they have to say or sell online.
We hope this helps! Suggested friends make up an important feature of the Facebook platform – but that doesn’t mean you have to always add the users that Facebook suggests! How you respond to the suggested friends is completely up to you.
