What does mutual friend mean on facebook

How does Facebook calculate mutual friends?

Does it cache all mutual friends for each user? Does it use MySQL to calculate mutual friends with a query?

What does mutual friend mean on facebook

asked Jun 12, 2011 at 16:47

4

According to Facebook,

Mutual friends are the people who are Facebook friends with both you and the person whose profile you are viewing. For instance, if you are friends with Chris, and Mark is friends with Chris, then Chris will be shown as a mutual friend when you are viewing Mark's profile.

So, the set of mutual friends is the intersection of the set of your friends and the set of friends of the person you are viewing. If we assume that Facebook maintains an active cache of your friends, then when you view a person's page, another list containing that person's friends is retrieved, and the intersection of these two lists is the list of mutual friends.

answered Jun 15, 2011 at 0:00

What does mutual friend mean on facebook

Jay ElstonJay Elston

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Friends lists are simply lists that you can create on Facebook to organize your online friends. You can control the privacy options for groups of friends and filter the stories that appear on your Facebook news feed using these lists. If you want to create a List called "Mutual" and add friends to it, you can do so using the friends page in Facebook. You can add up to 1,000 friends to a friends list -- and you can delete the list at any time.

  1. Sign into your Facebook account.

  2. Click on the "Friends" option below your profile picture in the column on the left side of the page.

  3. Click the "Manage Friend List" button at the top of the page.

  4. Click the "+Create a List" button at the top of the page; a pop-up window will appear with a list of all your friends.

  5. Type in "Mutual" in the "Enter a Name" field at the top of the Create a New List window, to name the friends list "Mutual." Alternatively you can name the list with any other name you wish.

  6. Scroll through the list of friends in the pop-up window and click on any friends you want to add to the "Mutual" list.

  7. Click the "Create List" button at the bottom of the window to create the new list.

Mutual friends on Facebook are friends the user has in common with someone else. This concept is also familiar to most people in offline life; a mutual friend is someone a person and another person are both friends with, whether these two people are familiar with each other or not.

If a Facebook user views a profile or hovers over a link to someone’s profile, the names of several mutual friends with a link will be displayed in a small popup box if any exist. The mutual friends page will show all of the people that the user and the person whose profile is being viewed are both friends with on Facebook. This helps users determine if they know a certain person, and whether they are viewing the correct profile of a recent acquaintance who they wish to contact.

Users also have the option to suggest friends for others to add. If they wish to introduce their friends this way, they may click “…” at the top of a profile and click “Suggest Friends.”

Mutual friends are often taken into consideration by Facebook for the “People You May Know” feature. This feature shows a user profiles of people they are likely to know offline. Other factors used in finding people the user may know include networks, workplaces, schools, locations and any imported address book information.

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What does mutual friend mean on facebook

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In the quest to make new friends, people often overlook one of their most effective tools: the mutual friend. This individual is a viable asset toward meeting new people that share similar interests, beliefs and hobbies. Whether in person or on social networks, using a mutual friend can break the proverbial ice and help to establish friendships quickly.

Identification

A mutual friend is an individual who has established a friendship with two people. When those two people meet, they learn that they share the same friend; that friend they have in common is their mutual friend. If the two people become friends, a circle of friendship develops between the mutual friend and the other individuals. Mutual friendships are commonplace in schools, where kids are introduced to each other by a mutual friend. Adults often meet other people in the workplace, bars, restaurants and other social settings due to a mutual friend introducing them.

Social Networks

The concept of mutual friends extends to social networking as well. A mutual friend on the website Facebook is someone who is friends with a Facebook user and the person who's profile the user views. When visiting the Facebook profile of a person with whom you're not friends, the website displays a list of people who are that person's friends and your friends; they are mutual friends. The website Twitter similarly integrates a mutual friends list in its service. If you visit a person's profile on Twitter, the website lists the friends that you follow that also follow that person.

Dating

Mutual friendships serve as the foundation for many dating experiences. For example, two people dating may be compatible due to having a lot in common between themselves and with a mutual friend. Blind dates are occasionally set up by a mutual friend who believes his two friends are a good match for each other. If the blind date is disastrous, however, the mutual friend risks straining both of his friendships.

Mutual Friend's Companions

Mutual friendships are beneficial in making new friends. Creating an opportunity to meet your mutual friend's social circle is a way to develop new friends easily. The opportunity could be a party or other social event. According to a SucceedSocially.com article, the friends are "pre-screened for characteristics you like because they already know your friend." The mutual friendship nearly guarantees you will see your buddy's friends again. After repeated encounters, a friendship may develop naturally between you and your mutual friend's companions.

How does one become a mutual friend on Facebook?

"Mutual friend" is not a label that can be applied by you to anyone else. It is simply a way to inform you that you share friends with someone else. You can turn mutual friends into your Facebook friends by using the "People You May Know" tool.

How do you know if someone has added you as a mutual friend?

How to see mutual friends on Snapchat. To see a list of mutual friends on Snapchat, you first need to head to your profile. Tap on your Bitmoji in the upper left, then tap the option labeled Add Friends. Under the Quick Add menu, you'll find a list of several users, including mutual friends.

What is the difference between mutual friend and common friend?

“Common friend” is an accepted but potentially ambiguous term. A “mutual friend” is a friend [shared] in common. It means a person who is the friend of two people — but those two other people may or may not know each other.

Why does Facebook show some mutual friends but not all?

The number of mutual friends now includes mutual friends whose accounts have been disabled, but these friends are not displayed. Also, if the person's full list of friends is hidden to you, a mutual friend who also has their full list of friends hidden to you will not be displayed as a mutual friend.