For those unfamiliar with how Facebook works (i.e. my parents), the site looks at your existing connections and suggests new ones under the heading “People You May Know” on the right hand sidebar. This can be based on many factors, including location, mutual friends, work history, and other variables. Like many, I sort of tune it out. I know it’s going to suggest tech writers, people I went to school with, and a whole lot of comic book professionals.
Mark Waid’s restraining order is still in effect. Quit it, Facebook.
I recently moved halfway across the U.S. and as such have been paying attention to the “People You May Know” heading more than I did before. Popping up in the middle of members of the local Jewish community were a few interesting names with odd looking pictures. Hmm, who is this woman? She doesn’t look Jewish (as a Jewish man, I have the right to say that) and we have no mutual friends. Why does the name ring a bell? One Google search later and — oh my!
Tori Black, Female Performer of the Year at the Adult Video News Awards 2011, is only one example. I was getting suggestions for multiple adult actresses. Some of you out there are already sniggering, thinking the obvious “someone went to a naughty site and got hijacked.” I’m not saying I never look at adult entertainment. However, this was happening on my kid’s playroom computer, on the family group user account, using a browser that clears data every time it’s shut down. I don’t know about you folks, but I don’t use the kid’s computer for adult things. Additionally, I started seeing the same thing at my work computer, which I know beyond a shadow of a doubt has not been used for extracurricular activities.
At first, I thought the new suggested friends might just be a case of “sponsored” suggestions, which is tacky, but Facebook has a bottom line. Eventually, a friend pointed out the probable cause. Facebook doesn’t just monitor the variables I mentioned above, but it also watches my status updates for certain keywords. That’s why, for example, my political posts result in my getting friend suggestions for various political talking heads. In much the same way, some of my online discussions have resulted in Facebook deciding I am an adult aficionado. What discussions are those? Civil rights, specifically gay marriage.
According to my source, a frequent gay rights blogger, if you post to Facebook enough about (direct quote) “gay stuff”, you get porn-related friend suggestions. While Tori Black is apparently bisexual (thanks, Wikipedia), I find it odd that most of my suggestions appear to be for women then. Moreover, I find it somewhat bigoted that the immediate association for gay in Facebook’s systems is sex. I may be overreacting, but there’s more to sexual orientation than the first syllable. I know there’s almost certainly nothing sinister involved here and it’s all based on what will sell ad space on Facebook, but I can’t help but feel crazy insulted on behalf of my homosexual associates.
It could be worse though. Facebook could link gay content to suggested friendships with interior decorators.
I’m sure it works on string literals. I once belonged to an online community that had a censor so when you type in a bad word it would be censored out. This was funny for a while because the string s-e-m-e-n id in the word basement, so “basement” got censored (for example).
Homosexuality has s-e-x in it, so the thing probably uses sex in possible friends searches because of that.