In the past few years, Facebook has made many changes to its user experience. From the news feed to leading users to use new features like reactions, Facebook is always coming up with ways to keep people using their site. Even though most of these changes are positive and make using Facebook more enjoyable, some of them can be a little invasive. For example, friend suggestions on Facebook are creepy at times. If you have recently updated your profile or changed your interests, you might have noticed that you’re seeing more friend suggestions on Facebook. How this feature works are that when you add friends as interests or tag them in photos, they will get notified and see that they’ve been suggested as a friend. However, not everyone wants to see friend suggestions on Facebook. If you don’t want to be suggested as a friend by your friends any longer and avoid this feature completely, we’ll tell you how in this article.
How to Turn Off Friend Suggestions on Facebook
- Log into Facebook
2. Go to the top right of the screen and click on ‘Settings.’
3. On the left-hand side, you should see a drop-down menu titled ‘Suggestions’. Click on this to open more options.
4. Under the ‘Suggestions’ list, click on ‘See Less’ to turn off suggested friends from appearing on your news feed and timeline.
5. Click once on ‘See More’ to turn off suggested friends from appearing in your news feed and timeline again.
6. You can also turn off suggested friends on your mobile. On your mobile, go to the top right of the screen and click on ‘Settings’.
7. On the left-hand side, click on ‘Suggestions’ and choose ‘See Less’ to turn off suggested friends from appearing on your news feed and timeline.
Turn Off Friend Recommendations
- Go to the Friends section of your Facebook account (in the upper right corner).
- Click on the Edit or Add friends button next to your name.
- Click on Don’t show me suggestions under Suggested friends.
- You can also turn off recommendations while editing a friend’s information by clicking on the dropdown arrow and selecting Don’t show me suggestions (Edit) instead of Suggested friends (Add).
- Click Save Changes at the bottom of this page.
- If you want to turn off recommendations for all your friends, click on All suggested friends and then click Keep suggested friends at the bottom of this page.
Why Are You Seeing More Friend Recommendations?
- You’ve Recently Updated Your Profile
It’s no secret that people like to stay on top of the latest trends and news. If you’ve recently updated your Facebook profile, you might be seeing more friend recommendations on Facebook. This is because when you update your profile, everyone who has access to your profile will see that you have changed something about yourself. When this happens, Facebook will start suggesting people as friends to those who have access to your profile. This means that if you have a lot of friends or if they are the only ones who can see your updates, they will start seeing friend suggestions on Facebook.
- You’ve Added Interests To Your Profile
If you’ve recently added any interests or tags to your profile, then chances are good that other people with access to their profiles will be seeing friend recommendations on Facebook as well. This is because when you add interests or tags to a post or a photo, it gets sent out through the News Feeds of those who have access to their profiles in order for them to see it and decide whether they want to add it as an interest or tag someone in the photo. When this happens for the first time after updating their profiles, these users will start seeing friend suggestions on Facebook as well since these changes get sent out through their News Feeds as well.
- You’ve Recently Shared A Photo
When you share a photo on Facebook, it’s sent out to all of your friends who have access to their profiles. If the photo that you shared is something that you’ve recently posted, it will be shown as a suggested friend for others who have access to their profiles. This means that if you share photos and posts frequently on Facebook, then you might be seeing friend recommendations on Facebook.
- You’re Searching For Friends
When you search for friends on Facebook, you’re also searching for people who have access to their profiles. This means that if you’re searching for friends to add or tag people in a photo, it will be suggested to others who have access to their profiles.
- You’ve Recently Added A Friend From A Friend Request
If someone has recently added you from a friend request, then it might be suggested as a friend suggestion on Facebook. If this happens, then the person sending the request will see that they were suggested as a friend and they can accept or reject the request. But if someone is already your friend and sends you an invitation, then it might also be shown as a recommended friend on Facebook as well. This is because when someone invites another person to be their friend and you accept the invitation, then it will show up in their News Feeds with the message “You are now friends with [name].” When this happens, Facebook will start suggesting that person’s name as friends to those who have access to their profile since they’re one of your friends already.
Facebook May Be Showing You More Friend Suggestions
- On the left, click on the gear icon.
- Select Privacy Settings from the drop-down menu.
- On the next page, scroll down to “Exclude people” and click on it.
- In the “Who can see my interests” section, uncheck “Suggest me as a friend when I tag people in photos or posts” and select Done at the bottom of this page.
- On the next page, select “Done” again and select Done at the bottom of this page again to finish disabling this feature on Facebook for you.
3 Steps to Avoid Friend Suggestions on Facebook
- Disable Suggestions in Settings
Open your Facebook account and navigate to the tab of General Settings. Here, you will see a section titled “Suggested Friends”. Uncheck this box to stop friend suggestions on Facebook.
- Disable Suggestions in Activity Log
To stop friend suggestions on Facebook, click on the link of Activity Log located at the bottom right corner of your profile. Here, you will see a section titled “Suggested Friends”. Uncheck this box to stop friend suggestions on Facebook.
- Disable Friend Requests from Friends You Don’t Like
If you don’t want to be suggested by friends who you don’t like, then you can turn off friend requests from here as well. To do this, click on the link of Friends Requests located at the bottom right corner of your profile and uncheck this box to stop friend requests from friends that you don’t want to receive anymore.
Conclusion
Friend recommendations are annoying and a little creepy at times, but they can be avoided. If you want to avoid friend recommendations on Facebook, make sure you don’t add friends as interests or tag them in posts or photos. Facebook will show you more friend recommendations if you have changed your profile in the following ways: you have added a new job, a new school, an interest that has many friends, and a birthday or anniversary in your profile.
