Cambridge University discovers formula to find friends on Facebook and Twitter
August 5, 2011 by admin
Filed under Lingerie Events
Cambridge University scientists have discovered a formula for users to get more friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter.
A team of researchers says making contact with ‘friends of friends’ is a flawed way of meeting like-minded people with a shared interest.
Experts at the Cambridge University Computer Laboratory claim better social networking friends are found via links to favourite hang-outs such as pubs, gyms, schools and offices.
Researcher Salvatore Scellato, a PhD student, hopes the theory will be used by social network sites like Facebook and Twitter.
He said: “Our research solves a big problem for social networking sites. Facebook has millions of people on it now so it takes hours to find people you might know.
“But if the sites compare the locations users have registered on their profiles, they will be able to predict who a user may want to be friends with. By combining place friends with friends-of-friends, we can make the prediction space about 15 times smaller and yet, cover 66 per cent of new social ties.
“More people are now using social networking sites on their mobile phone and uploading their locations – so the information is available.
“Offices, gyms and schools are more likely to aid development rather than other places such as football stadiums or airports as it’s highly unlikely people will develop a social connection.
“In the future we hope to be able to understand why people decide to delete their social networking friends and maybe predict who they might want to delete.”
The year-long research project compared location information from users of the social networking site Gowalla over a period of four months.
Salvatore, and his colleges Nastasios Noulas and Cecilia Mascolo, discovered that about 30 per cent of new social links appeared among users who went to the same places.
