One of the main tools in Facebook’s algorithm seeks to connect users who may know each other, accessing everything from location data and interests to mutual friends, to determine which users to suggest as friends.
As a Facebook user, these friend suggestions appear sporadically in your feed when scrolling, inviting you to run through a carousel of different users – adding those who you want to become friends with via a quick and easy button.
But while some users find this tool valuable and like the ability to add new friends based on Facebook’s algorithm, others prefer to deactivate features like this and only connect with those who they actively search for.
Here’s how to stop friend suggestions from appearing on your Facebook feed, in 5 short steps.
5 Steps to Turn off Friend Suggestions
- Click on the menu button in the bottom right hand corner of your screen
- Select ‘Settings and Privacy’ then ‘Settings’
- Under the ‘Preferences’ heading, click on ‘Notifications’
- A list of things that you are notified about will appear on your screen. Click on ‘People You May Know’
- To remove all friend suggestions that Facebook sends you, turn off the toggle next to ‘Allow Notifications on Facebook’. You may also notice that the notification toggles underneath are activated – make sure to turn all of these off to prevent texts and emails
And there you have it!
Once you’ve turned off this notification, you will no longer see the carousel of friend suggestions in your feed. Having said that, you will still receive friend requests from other users who may see you in their friend suggestions, meaning that you can stay connected to other Facebook users despite switching off the feature in your own app.
We hope this helps. Personalising your feed and overall experience on Facebook is an important part of the user journey and is what makes Facebook such a popular app across all demographics.
