How is LinkedIn connecting us to others?

CYBER SORTER: This week our social media agony aunt looks at howsocial network sites get the information to suggest friends andconnections

Dear Cyber Sorter,

I'm trying to present a professional face on business socialnetwork LinkedIn but it keeps suggesting I connect with friends -actual, personal friends who have no connection to my professionallife.

How does it know I know these people if they're not at allconnected to my network and should I connect to them on LinkedIn orjust stick to Facebook? I find it a bit creepy and am not sure whatto do.

LO

Dear LO,

The answer is simple. Hang on a minute, no it isn't. It'sincredibly complex, involving algorithms, intricate programmingdetails and possibly even black magic.

Anyone with a LinkedIn profile knows that on their home page is asection on the right hand side called People You May Know.

This section, similar to the friend finder on Facebook, conjuresup people with whom you are not yet connected. They may be someoneyou already know and haven't connected with yet or someone with whomit would be useful to connect.

Just how LinkedIn draws the lines between you and these people isa little mysterious.

People on internet forums have begun to wonder out loud ifLinkedIn is accessing their email, Facebook and other connectionswithout their permission.

Jason Alba, author of, I'm on Linked In: Now What???contactedLinkedIn with regard to this issue. He paraphrases their response onhis website, thus: "The contacts that show up in that box are notcoming from some access to any of your non-LinkedIn accounts withoutyour approval." The controversy, though, continues with userssuggesting that the person they sold their house to 10 years ago, ortheir ex-boyfriend whom they blocked on Facebook, are showing uplike unwanted ghosts in their People You May Know section.

Contact sharing between big social network companies likeLinkedIn, Facebook and Google should only occur when you give aplatform permission to go through contacts and files from a separateapplication, such as your email or Facebook account.

However, your information is probably wider spread across theinternet than you realise. These platforms constantly develop moresophisticated software to make use of any information in the publicdomain that it can find. You should also keep in mind that othersyou have been in contact with may have given access to theircontacts, where you have not.

Do not connect to people on LinkedIn with whom you do not want aprofessional relationship. This platform is about forming a worknetwork and there are much better places to conduct friendships,such as Facebook, Twitter and the pub.

If you work in PR and your friend works in construction,connecting on LinkedIn will put you in the networking sphere ofother construction workers and is unlikely to bring you many PRopportunities.

If you want to focus on your work life then spend your timeupdating your LinkedIn profile and connecting to individuals who cancomplement and forward your career. Leave the friendly gossip onFacebook where it belongs.