Why Does Facebook Keep Suggesting People I Don't Know?

Facebook suggests friends under the heading People You May Know. If you add the person, she will be notified and asked whether she wants to accept you as a friend. It isn't automatic. If she chooses to reject your friend request, the two of you will still not be friends.

Facebook bases People You May Know on the connections you have to other people. It also considers the people you've added via friend finder and mutual friends. There's no guarantee that you'll know the people that are suggested. If you're a member of a network, like a college, where you know few people or have many mutual friends with friends you don't know, you're likely to see many unfamiliar faces on People You May Know. Facebook continually suggests new candidates in case you do know, and want to add, a person.

When you see someone you don't know and have no interest in adding as a friend, click the X by his name. Once he's gone, another suggested friend is displayed and you can decide whether to accept or reject that candidate. If you want People You May Know to stop appearing, continue clicking the X button on each suggested contact until they're all gone.

If you want to change the settings on People You May Know, go to your Friends Browser page (see Resources). You can click the check box next to any network to have the friend suggestions from that network displayed. If you want to search a different network, type in the name of a city, employer, town, school or mutual friend to see suggestions from that network. You can choose to add friends from the individual listings on the page.