i have a feeling that if your email used to reg for twitter is cross-regged at any of the following sites:
https://twitter.com/#!/who_to_follow/import
then you will get follow recs based on that.
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 18:53 (twelve years ago) link
Good point Steve, but I don't use any of those! So I'm still mystified by this.
― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 18:58 (twelve years ago) link
I think mine can be explained by tying it to gmail but, still, seems weird to keep prodding me with a person that I literally emailed 3 times more than four years ago!
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 18:59 (twelve years ago) link
I've got an old gf, a girl I once hired for freelance work for a year and an old classmate. It seems awfully random but I know them all, obviously. Very strange.
― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 18:59 (twelve years ago) link
i would imagine that a certain significant proportion of the ppl you follow/follow you are also linked to this other person
though if you're really brand new i have no good explanation
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 19:01 (twelve years ago) link
Brand spankin' new!
― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 19:04 (twelve years ago) link
It's creeping me out. If I refresh a new batch of people I know but don't have specific contact with pop up as suggestions. I want to know how Twitter pulls this off damnit.
― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 19:51 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.quora.com/How-does-Twitters-follow-suggestion-algorithm-work
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 20:10 (twelve years ago) link
or if u like the technical side
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triadic_closure
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 20:12 (twelve years ago) link
I think that algorithim talk is 100% bullshit. One of my recommendations was a twitter user with zero followers and was only following one acct... his employer.
This is a person who emailed me a couple years ago, and I remembered he worked at that obscure biotech company.
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 20:35 (twelve years ago) link
ladies and gentlemen,
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 20:39 (twelve years ago) link
Thanks Hoos, but I signed up on twitter, not knowing or reading anyone on there, let alone following someone. I entered my details opening an account and *boom* three people I know are suggested. That can't be through a simple cookie, it's fishy.
― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 21:22 (twelve years ago) link
their algorithm freaked me out when it was suggesting i follow some coworkers.. then i realized it probably takes your subnet into consideration
― jeff tWEEDy (diamonddave85), Thursday, 29 September 2011 03:29 (twelve years ago) link
That can't be through a simple cookie, it's fishy.
― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, September 28, 2011 9:22 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark
that's just the point though, it isn't!
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Thursday, 29 September 2011 03:40 (twelve years ago) link
I understand the triadic closure, but twitter would still need to identify who I am first, which node I am. Didn't even give them my real name. But even if I did, I enter twitter completely blank, people obv have not been able to follow me before I was on there, I don't use any of the 3rd party applications they are linked to, so... Or am I not understanding you?
― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 29 September 2011 05:37 (twelve years ago) link
that is hella mysterious
― ice cr?m, Thursday, 29 September 2011 05:38 (twelve years ago) link
it might be suggesting people who've emailed you in the past and subsequently put their email contacts in who-to-follow?
― civilisation and its discotheques (c sharp major), Thursday, 29 September 2011 07:06 (twelve years ago) link
i.e. it doesn't have to be you who's used the friend-finder application?
― civilisation and its discotheques (c sharp major), Thursday, 29 September 2011 07:10 (twelve years ago) link
I suppose I could see that, yes.
Does that work the other way around too then? Because I signed on with my e-mail address, even though I don't have my name in my display name and don't have my full name up there, it will link my account to them suggesting to follow me? Wouldn't like that tbh.
― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 29 September 2011 07:44 (twelve years ago) link
there's a 'let others find me by my email address' tickybox on yr account settings iirc
― civilisation and its discotheques (c sharp major), Thursday, 29 September 2011 07:47 (twelve years ago) link
Yes, but I haven't ticked that.
― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 29 September 2011 08:02 (twelve years ago) link
There's a good chance these people used the friend finder some time before you signed up and your address was in their contact lists - meaning they'd already searched for you. Twitter remembers that then tries to re-establish the link once you sign up.
― 44.9 percent indie rock individualist (onimo), Thursday, 29 September 2011 10:13 (twelve years ago) link
― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, September 29, 2011 5:37 AM (14 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
i misunderstood you there, sorry--yeah, it is remarkably weird given all your caveats.
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Thursday, 29 September 2011 20:34 (twelve years ago) link
onimo otm tho
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Thursday, 29 September 2011 20:35 (twelve years ago) link
makes sense but it wouldn't have occurred to me at all
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Thursday, 29 September 2011 20:36 (twelve years ago) link
That was my guess too - those other people looked for YOU before you joined twitter!
― she started dancing to that (Finefinemusic), Thursday, 29 September 2011 20:37 (twelve years ago) link
or like one of them did
― ice cr?m, Thursday, 29 September 2011 21:05 (twelve years ago) link
Onimo's example would make sense if it was an active account with tweets and loads of followers/followees. The suggestion in my example was a long-abandoned account (I'm new to twitter) with no tweets, no followers, and only seemed like it was created to follow a company (which has been defunct for some time).
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 29 September 2011 21:22 (twelve years ago) link
― she started dancing to that (Finefinemusic), Thursday, September 29, 2011 10:37 PM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark
Fastest neutrino's :)
I see what you mean, but still find it highly odd. How will people have looked for me on twitter before I was on there? I don't use my real name, nor my 'normal' e-mail address. Adn all of the above I mentioned. And yet and yet and yet...
― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 29 September 2011 21:28 (twelve years ago) link
That said, this person emailed me several years ago from what I imagined would be the address connected to their twitter account. An email that I would believe is no longer be in service as that company has been defunct for at least 2 years. My twitter account is <1 year old.
This is why I am not subscribing to the Twitter's talk of algorithms, it seems to be that it is tied to email databases (ie, requiring no algorithm). I've never "searched for friends on twitter" using any email or SNS account.
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 29 September 2011 21:28 (twelve years ago) link
maybe they subscribe to jump databases and mix that into their algorithms
― ice cr?m, Thursday, 29 September 2011 21:30 (twelve years ago) link
Maybe twitter is my neighbour
― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 29 September 2011 21:33 (twelve years ago) link
Like say this person in my example 2 years ago "searched for friends on twitter" several years before I opened a twitter account, my address was stored in the twitter databases. After a couple years, I open a twitter account and now that person is showing up as "someone I should know" despite us having zero connections (they are following one acct: a defunct business, and they have no followers).
Again this requires zero algorithm (it's all 1-1 db relationship) nor any triadic closure, lol.
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 29 September 2011 21:33 (twelve years ago) link
I don't think we'll figure this one out anymore
― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 29 September 2011 21:34 (twelve years ago) link
That is my best case scenario, and somewhat unlikely.
Worst and more realistic case is they've accessed the contacts db tied to my account without my permission and are farming data while the slaves are all working.
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 29 September 2011 21:35 (twelve years ago) link
The email address I used to sign up to twitter is a new one, created just for this purpose. It is not linked to my name, to my identity, and yada yada yada all-of-the-above, I still get these recommendations.
― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 29 September 2011 21:37 (twelve years ago) link
it seems to be that it is tied to email databases (ie, requiring no algorithm)
has it occurred to you that there might be >1 thing happening here
xp lmao wait
Worst and more realistic case is they've accessed the contacts db tied to my account without my permission ― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Thursday, September 29, 2011 9:35 PM (9 seconds ago) Bookmark
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Thursday, September 29, 2011 9:35 PM (9 seconds ago) Bookmark
do u srsly believe they would risk what amounts to third party authorization of access to any contact database
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Thursday, 29 September 2011 21:37 (twelve years ago) link
that would make sense:
A) if this account had relationships. it has one, a defunct company from 2 years ago.
B) if the email used to access this person's acct was active at my time of joining twitter. the email address that I imagine used to open the account is also defunct (as the acct mentions he is a scientist at the aforementioned defunct company).
seeing how A & B are both false, I think both my scenarios upthread present the best and worst.
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 29 September 2011 21:44 (twelve years ago) link
Suffice it to say I would be surprised to see you proven correct.
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Thursday, 29 September 2011 21:48 (twelve years ago) link
Plainly I don't know how they're doing it in the cases we've outlined here, but I just don't see them making regular database breach a part of their standard operating procedure.
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Thursday, 29 September 2011 21:53 (twelve years ago) link
Well at any rate, one of my teammates recently left his post as a VP at twitter and we're all meeting this weekend. Maybe I'll get some off the record answers after a few beers.
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 29 September 2011 21:59 (twelve years ago) link
Plz tell me you team wakeboard w/dude.
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Thursday, 29 September 2011 22:00 (twelve years ago) link
plz post otr answers
― stet, Saturday, 1 October 2011 19:20 (twelve years ago) link
otm
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Saturday, 1 October 2011 19:32 (twelve years ago) link
― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, September 29, 2011 3:37 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark
You know what's weird? Near exact same thing w/ facebook. After I deleted my account, I booted up a skeleton account some months later just out of necessity - "like this to _____" - using a different email. It's recommending me people I fucking know! And it's a Gmail account.
― kelpolaris, Saturday, 1 October 2011 20:04 (twelve years ago) link
Facebook are super creepy about this, though. Like, they'll recommend people who have used the same computer as you.
― stet, Saturday, 1 October 2011 20:12 (twelve years ago) link
Wow. Yeah, I'm not one to believe privacy is an utterly sacred thing but some of this stuff vibes borderline illegal to me. What if advertisers contracted w/ Visa to keep track of what you're buying in order to advertise to you better? I'd be all for a fucking lawsuit.
― kelpolaris, Saturday, 1 October 2011 20:15 (twelve years ago) link
hmm okay
wolfpupy >>>>> thebibandit>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>graeyalien
graeyalien needs to step up imo
― dayo, Friday, 7 October 2011 00:48 (twelve years ago) link
The "Who to follow" section is making me ragey. More like "Who to throw down a well, so they'll never be heard from again" amirite.
― DaTruf (Nicole), Friday, 7 October 2011 19:55 (twelve years ago) link
just sent my 10,000th tweet
http://twitter.com/misuba/statuses/122403034939670528
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 7 October 2011 20:36 (twelve years ago) link