Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

oldandhappy

Well done on the run Kabayiri. I use to love running when at school and came 3rd once for Croydon area schools and even when younger won the egg and spoon race...among other ones of course

vivatifosi

Generali wrote: »

I have heard it said that in addition we tend to get the sort of news that feeds our existing biases. For example, if you are the sort of person that thinks that political correctness is ruining the world then you will tend to read stories about how political correctness is ruining the world. As a result, Google and Facebook will feed you lots of stories about how political correctness is ruining the world and so you will feel extra secure in your belief that political correctness is ruining the world.

I use Google news every day instead of reading a newspaper as it enables me to read across a selection of sources and hopefully avoid editorial bias. It does tailor some stories to my preferences, plus I set some. The "top stories" section I find a fair reflection of what's going on though.

It also gets stuff very wrong. For example "you said you were interested in libraries" will tell me about a library closure in Des Moines when I'm searching on Google.co.UK. however if I put in libraries UK it only tells me about libraries in the UK, where the latter features in the text.

I do like though that it exposes me to news sources that I may not otherwise have come across... the Atlantic is a great read that I'd never heard of until it popped up on my economics feed.

Also, my guilty pleasure is Neighbours, but "you said you were interested in" occasionally returns stories about actual neighbours. Fortunately my other guilty passion, Eurovision, is a fairly specific word.

oldandhappy

I joined a group on facebook relating to old stuff about Croydon Wallington/Beddington areas. I was borne in Croydon married in Beddington Church because my parents had just moved from Croydon to Wallington a few weeks before.
Having spent 1968-2000 in Beddington with so many lovely(few horrid) memories and the River Wandle as our opposite neighbour with its long history with Various Mills in the area I still have a great interest in the place...we paid 4,400 for the 3 bed terraced house there and a few weeks ago it was sold for just under 400,000:eek:

CKhalvashi

michaels wrote: »

Feel awkward asking this now, but I have noticed various people I know but have no link with appearing on my 'you might want to friend this person' list - does this mean they have searched for me - ie do facebook in effect give you a clue who has looked at your profile?

I have various people show up on mine, from people I know to the bank manager (!), which makes me think that it also goes on phone numbers.

It also seems to vary depending on where I've been, so that may have something to do with it, too. In the last few days, it's shown quite a few people that OH knows, and taking into account where I've been and who these people are, it makes a lot of sense.

SingleSue

Mine tends to throw up teachers in my local area or those connected to speedway. Both are not unusual though for me as I do know a fair few local teachers or teaching assistants (grew up with them and this is a small town) plus I have a cousin who is a head teacher in the next county and of course speedway is pretty self explanatory.

Doozergirl

oldandhappy wrote: »

I joined a group on facebook relating to old stuff about Croydon Wallington/Beddington areas. I was borne in Croydon married in Beddington Church because my parents had just moved from Croydon to Wallington a few weeks before.
Having spent 1968-2000 in Beddington with so many lovely(few horrid) memories and the River Wandle as our opposite neighbour with its long history with Various Mills in the area I still have a great interest in the place...we paid 4,400 for the 3 bed terraced house there and a few weeks ago it was sold for just under 400,000:eek:

I'm a (London borough of) Croydon girl, originally. My grandparents are buried in Bandon Hill cemetery.

vivatifosi

SingleSue wrote: »

Mine tends to throw up teachers in my local area or those connected to speedway. Both are not unusual though for me as I do know a fair few local teachers or teaching assistants (grew up with them and this is a small town) plus I have a cousin who is a head teacher in the next county and of course speedway is pretty self explanatory.

I don't buy stuff on ebay, it's not really my thing. However I did on one occasion to buy a trivial present for my husband that I couldn't buy elsewhere. It cost about £4.00 in total.

Then I got a request from the buyer to attach to them on LinkedIn. I'm sure it's an accident, but I really am not interested in making contacts with people I buy stuff from, anymore than I want to leave feedback when I go shopping. I'd much rather go in, buy something, leave; than engaging in any meaningful conversation or looking for friends. Same goes for twitter, a really promising news feed option spoiled by what Stephen Fry had for lunch.

GDB2222

michaels wrote: »

Hmm - we are talking people who are hundreds or thousands of miles away and afaik we have no links or even second/third links in common so I think they must have searched for me (yes we are talking exs...)

Doesn't facebook ask for access to your list of contacts? Then it's simply a question of matching up email addresses. Your are on Mr X's email list, and so is someone else, so Facebook offers to pair you up.

michaels

GDB2222 wrote: »

Doesn't facebook ask for access to your list of contacts? Then it's simply a question of matching up email addresses. Your are on Mr X's email list, and so is someone else, so Facebook offers to pair you up.

Possibly although:
I am pretty sure I have never shared my contacts list with facebook
I don't think I would have contacts in common with these people

GDB2222

michaels wrote: »

Possibly although:
I am pretty sure I have never shared my contacts list with facebook
I don't think I would have contacts in common with these people

I think the facebook app on your expensive pad insists on sharing contacts when you install it.

Ofc, the algorithm can be a lot more sophisticated than I made out. But I'm pretty sure the principle is simply of looking at people you know, and whom they know, and whom they know. Then applying some scoring system.