Friends who show up on the lefthand toolbar of your Facebook account

[InquilineKea]

Does anyone know what algorithms facebook uses to include them on the left-hand toolbar of your facebook page? I've noticed that some friends show up far more often than others (who almost never show up). And while the ones I've had the most interaction with show up the most, there are always others who I hardly interact with but who nonetheless show up more frequently than others. I actually sort of suspect that it either has to do with (a) how often they interact with your "social core", or other group of people you interact the most with, or (b) gasp how often they actually read your profile [or how often you read their profile].

Might be interesting to try to reverse-engineer this.

[goldins]

Interesting - I had the same thought not too long ago. I talked with a friend, and it turned out that a lot of the same friends that show up on my profile when I am looking at it show up for him when he views my profile.

As to (a) and (b), the friends that showed up seemed pretty random - I interact regularly with less than half of them. It's definitely not random, but I'm not sure how it's determined. It would be interesting to track it over time (as friendships are added, removed, and changed).

[nomad2986]

Are you talking about the friends on chat feature? I was under the impression that it's just a list of your friends who are on facebook at that time and signed in to facebook chat.

[InquilineKea]

Oh no, I'm not. I'm actually talking about the left section in this image:

http://shegeeks.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/New-Facebook-...

[nomad2986]

Ah, ok. That makes a lot more sense.

[mindcrime]

Jeez, is there anywhere Wayne Sutton doesn't show up?!?? That guy is truly a social media superhero, I tell ya. In fact, I'm not wondering if this whole post isn't part of some elaborate viral marketing thingamabob that Wayne is orchestrating...