Online buzz was generated recently with the discovery of a feature on Facebook dubbed the “stalker list”. The list can be found on the search box in Facebook. The feature involves clicking on the search field and pressing the down arrow. Once this is done, a list of five other Facebook users appears. Facebook users speculated that the names on the list are the people who view the user’s profile the most often, hence giving birth to the term “stalker list”.
Notice to the feature was first mentioned in the blog Gawker. Hours after the feature was reported in the Gawker blog, it was taken down by Facebook without any comments. Facebook released a statement afterward explaining that the feature was removed after it caused confusion amongst Facebook users. The press release gave an ambiguous reason for the names that populate the list.
Apparently the feature was added so that the user can gain immediate access to profiles that they would want to see the most often, making it easier to navigate the site. Facebook made it clear that the list was not a “stalker list”, and it did not show the people who viewed a profile the most. However, Facebook also said that the list was not of people the user searched for the most. Facebook was unclear as to how the names on the list were supplied.
Though the feature was reportedly taken down, the list can still be accessed by using the search box. Clicking on the box and pressing down may still yield a list. Pressing the up key instead of the down can show results. Typing a dot (.) on the field will also result in a drop down list. Placing the cursor on the search field and pressing the space bar can also reveal the drop down list.
Some users report that the list is accurate and contains access to the profiles they often search for or often view. Still, some users commented that the list of names is random. People talk about seeing names on the so-called “stalker list” whose profiles they have not viewed recently. Other experiments by users reveal that the list did not show the names of those users they did regularly check on.
Some speculate that the “stalker list” was the result of a faulty algorithm by Facebook. Facebook seemingly tried to give users easy access to close friends. However, the process they used to determine just who those close friends were has failed. The process may work for some users, but it has not proven effective for the entire Facebook community.
