I'd guess that its first scan picks up people with the same IP address, and a second scan picks up the friends of those people. Best wishes Rebecca ________________________________________ From: mama.nin@gmail.com [mama.nin@gmail.com] Sent: 24 September 2010 13:42 To: Daniel Oliveira Cc: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-L] How does Facebook find friends? It may have been that it initially scanned based on very basic information like last name and current city. First wave may have then included ppl like the mother and father. In subsequent algorithms it may have scanned those identified in first wave for shared friends- so it possibly identified the granduncle based on information like the mother and father (etc) have this shared friend, the granduncle. Hence, these ppl get suggested as possible friends in a shared network. Plus, FB is known for devious ways around accessing private information. That's my educated, non-expert guess. Best, Nora Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing, there is a field. I will meet you there ~Rumi _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ -- The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt charity in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland (SC 038302).