Yeah, so… Facebook, blah… Privacy… blah… Zuckerberg… blah…

It’s all been said before in these past couple of weeks, and with much more attention to detail than I currently have time for. So I’ll get to the point…

My Facebook settings are as public as a “date” with George Michael. I run an online business, write all over the web and have a digital footprint the size of Peter Crouch’. I seriously lack the emotional energy to pay attention to the intricacies of ringfenced data settings. So I don’t. (Anyways, I was working in search before 2006 and can recall the AOL’ “whoops there go our search logs” debacle.) In truth, a checkbox is no guarantee to privacy.

One guy who does seem to care about his (Facebook) privacy it seems, is Peter Andre. Why would I know this? Well; because for some strange reason, Facebook keeps suggesting to me that we be friends.

I give you my solemn word that I have in no way doctored this image, save to remove details from my friends, who may have differing views to my own when it comes to their personal privacy.

I first saw this suggestion about ten days ago, and initially thought I was seeing an advert for Peter’s fan page (assuming he has one). However his charming face popped up again yesterday and this time I paid closer attention.

What Is Going On Here?

I had previously assumed that the “Suggestions” box on the right hand of one’s homepage, utilised a basic algorithm which would naturally include variables such as; number of friends in common, number of “interactions” with said common friends, and perhaps other elements of commonality such as University or Location.

As you can see, Peter and I have zero friends in common, which is a shame as from the one time I saw that Katie and Peter thing, he was doing a huge barbeque. (Oh..! maybe I “like” barbequeues. Quick check. Nope!)

So, I’m thinking that Peter must have some sort of totally public sponsored profile that I simply haven’t heard of, however when I click the link to visit Peter’s profile I’m told…

As we can see, Peter only shares certain information with everyone. (Really?) However if I “know” Peter, I can “add him as a friend on Facebook.”

Know Peter? Of course I don’t know Peter. I spend my life analysing search logs. What could we possibly have in common? (Apart from the BBQ thing…)

So what the feck is going on here? Have I missed some completely obvious major Facebook announcement about celebrity profiles or something? Has anyone else noticed any bizzarre or celebrity friend suggestions? Can anyone think of any reason why Facebook might be inferring commonality betwixt myself and the Andre?

It’s Insania!