The Facebook Stalker Experiment - Join the Debate
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People Are Too Trusting, And Therefore Easily Accept A Facebook Stalker As A Friend
Ever wonder if that person asking to be your friend is truly a friend? Are people really trusting? In an effort to determine just how trusting people are, my friend conducted what we will call the Facebook Stalker Experiment.
Under a fake name, fake photo and not more than 5 minutes per day the Facebook Stalker Experiment was able to obtain 104 friends for a fake persona in less than 4 weeks. The account was unused otherwise.
How about you, are you cautious, or might you let in strangers?
Artwork © Melissa Albom 2009
Facebook Is Only As Safe As We Make It
Might You Have A Friend Who Is Really A Facebook Stalker?
Let's see if the Facebook Stalker Experiment results match what we think we do?
Pick A Side on The Facebook Stalker Debate
Are You Carefree or Cautious?
CAREFREE
CAUTIOUS
I measure my popularity by how many Facebook friends I have. I simply don't worry about strangers. There are a few random stories of trouble blown out of proportion by the media. The real story is the millions who safely use Facebook everyday.
I am more interested in safety than in popularity. I know all of my Facebook friends and I keep my security settings on high. I rarely share intimate information about myself or my family. I rarely post personal photos on Facebook.
We know my view - safety first. My friend's Facebook Stalker Experiment only proved my point.
This debate is open for everyone.
Can You Identify a Facebook Stalker?
Yes, you're right! I Treat Facebook with Caution and know all my friends
dannystaple says:
Hmm - I am a bit of a mix. I allow those who I actually know and have met, combined with those I have business or other online dealings with. I did accept random people for a short while when playing games that encourage that, but I actually later then removed all those people. I am however more carefree than cautious with the content and do post loads of stuff on FB. I'll go with cautious though - although once you post something online, consider that any one of your friends could have copy/pasted it elsewhere.
Squidoo_Chick says:
I am with you, there is too much personal info on facebook to let just anyone ine
Linsay says:
I'm probably a bit more carefree than I should be but I only add people who I know or who seem familiar. Definitely I don't add people whom I don't know.
Annabella luin says:
i only add people i know and hang out with the most other wise i get too many friends and it gets annoying! only add people you know and like!!! :DD be safe ladies and gentleman, boys and girls!
WAWA2 says:
family and friends to the end
TravelingRae says:
I keep person stuff on FB to a minimum and I don't friend you unless I actually know you.
tandemonimom says:
Well, I'm somewhere in between. I only "friend" people I know, but since I do that I post my info and photos freely. My kids have accounts too, but they're only friends with family and close personal friends.
ElleDeeEsse says:
I also want to add that I am really concerned about my sons practice of competing with his girlfriend as to who can get the most friends. They are both sitting at around 800! But of course have reached an age where they think Mum is just over-reacting.
GoldieGreen says:
I mostly use it for business, so very little personal info ever unless it's no names and dates... facebook.com/GrEEnEyedGoldiE is the only purpose for me right now. & pictures of course with no names!
pumpnut says:
In this world caution is the word of the day. Watch out for yourself. Nobody else is.
No way, lighten up Monkeybrain! The more Facebook friends, the more fun
Edmund says:
i do not have a lot of friends in person so i accept all friend requests that i get. immediately after i add them i normally would start a conversation to see what they are all about. this is where i can tell if thy are stalker or not... then i delete them :D i see Facebook as a great way to meet people and to make great connections to people than you normally would can't in person.
2cool4u says:
i lik 2 add random pple cuz they usually hve fights on facebook.
LisaAuch says:
I know all my friends and will only accept ones who I know personally or can verify their work!
I will not accept just anyone, if they ask for friendship
Clairwil says:
I'm a bit more carefree than I should be.
ElleDeeEsse says:
I actually sit somewhere between the two extremes. I don't just accept friend requests from anyone and limit my applications to just a few but I do have a lot of Squidoo friends and as others have already said I don't really know most of them.
Kapalbility says:
I added a few friends from Squidoo and common friends from Squidoo pals. I still have 12 friends waiting for confirmation and I have no idea where they came from. Besides, what's there to stalk for in my account? I don't have private photos in there!
Treasures-By-Brenda says:
I'm definitely on the wrong side of this debate because I have accepted many Squidoo lensmasters as friends and I would have to say that I don't really know any of them...although some of them I have been dealing with for a couple of years. I still don't really know them though, do I?
sandyspider says:
I have a wide variety of FB friends. Since I had been doing internet marketing, I have friends who could care less about social networks. I think I am in the middle to this discussion. Most of the friends I do know where they are coming from, but I guess I'm not that safe.
Pukeko says:
Hmm, just looking over my own list of facebook friends, and I don't know a couple of them.
lakeerieartists says:
Because I use Facebook to promote my business, I am less safe than if I was just on there for fun. But I do teach my daughters that you never know who someone is online on any forum, unless you have already met them in person. And even then, someone else can impersonate them.
The Great Facebook Stalker Experiment
The Hypothesis and Experiment
The Hypothesis:
People are generally trusting and will assume they know anyone who requests their friendship on Facebook, especially when they share several mutual friends.
The Experiment:
- Choose a fictitious character (in the Facebook Experiment it was a character from a silly movie.)
- Set up an e-mail address and open a Facebook account
- Randomly pick common names and select a few profiles that have photos (more likely to be active)
- Send 5-10 requests per day until two friends are obtained
- Using the suggested friends list provided by Facebook, send 5-10 requests per day of friends of friends, for 4 weeks.
- Accept any friend invitations.
Artwork by Melissa Albom, copyrighted and protected
Only 3 Questioned Their New Friend
"How do you know me?"
"Hate to be so forward ma'am, but, do I know you? If not that's okay. I'm just wondering."
"Hey, you just facebook friended me, I was just wondering who you are. Usually I don't accept random requests, but since I saw you're friends with xxx and all them I figured you weren't some corporate spy bot or anything like that (:
The Results
- In the Facebook Stalker experiment an initial 20 requests were sent out before two "friends" accepted.
- Over the next four weeks approximately 200 requests were sent out, returning 99 friends (see table below). During the same time 5 friend invitations were received.
- Only 3 people questioned the identity without ever accepting. An additional two accepted as friends and then asked.
- Two of the friends recognized the fictitious character and sent related comments.
The Results
New Friends
Week 1
11
Week 2
25
Week 3
22
Week 4
41
Friend Invites
5
Total Friends
104
Comments From the Two Who Figured It Out
"I'm being added by a fictional character from a movie nobody remembers?"
"I'm ten minutes late to the party, laughing at everyone else."
How Many Facebook Friends Do You Have?
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dannystaple Apr 14, 2012 @ 7:46 pm | delete
- Hmm - this is a little bit worrying, and also fun to see what happened in the experiment. I do think I should vet my accepted friends even more - although I did "unfriend" lots of unknown people. I do accept people who i know to be Squidooers though.
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- Hmm - this is a little bit worrying, and also fun to see what happened in the experiment. I do think I should vet my accepted friends even more - although I did "unfriend" lots of unknown people. I do accept people who i know to be Squidooers though.
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Squidoo_Chick
Mar 26, 2012 @ 11:13 am | delete
- Interesting I am not a fan of random FB friends
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SavagedenutsxX
Feb 19, 2012 @ 7:11 pm | delete
- I am so going to try that out. Find some random person of one of my friends "friends", steal there info (Probaly one of those girls with a million friends). And ten sed out requests to everyone.
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ErinElise
Feb 3, 2012 @ 7:25 pm | delete
- Another well-done lens! : )
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denysaputra
Jan 5, 2012 @ 2:02 pm | delete
- Interesting lense and topic btw! Good luck with it!
how to get more facebook fans
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vallain Dec 4, 2011 @ 6:59 pm | delete
- Very thought provoking. I've had some friend requests that seemed suspicious to me, so I'm being cautious.
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LisaAuch
Aug 1, 2011 @ 5:14 am | delete
- A well deserving Purple Star, my daughter just hates it that I know so much about the computer and how it works!
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SeanVernall
May 11, 2011 @ 11:18 am | delete
- great experiment. what's even better is that it follows a similar process to the 'Freddi Staur' experiment conducted by sophos in 2007 and shows similar results (Freddi sent 200 requests and got 87 approvals). so there's reliability in your results.
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hprudavis Apr 2, 2011 @ 4:14 am | delete
- I've conducted this same type of experiment myself but never put it down like this. Nice work, and thanks for sharing.
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Who Wrote Up the Facebook Stalker Experiment?
by Pukeko
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