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What's the "ordered friends list initial data" on Facebook mean?

What does the facebook ordered friends list initial data mean?  What is orderedfriendslist initialdata mean in Facebooks html code when you view page source?
  1. Log into facebook.
  2. Right click anywhere on the page (not on pictures or text, the white parts)
  3. Click "view page source"
  4. Press Ctrl + F
  5. Search for "orderedfriends"
  6. Copy + paste the first set of numbers below to facebook.com/numbers   (ie. if the first set is 123456789 go to facebook.com/123456789)
  7. Are these your biggest facebook profile stalkers? 

Does facebook openly expose your biggest stalkers in the html source code "OrderedFriendsListInitialData" list?


128 Answers

0 
It seems that recently facebook has thrown some randoms into the top of the chat list order...at least on my list anyway. These are some people who are rarely even on facebook and I don't believe I've even interacted with them. Has anyone else noticed this? I think their presence is meant to make the list seem more random, even though many other factors are not random. That's my theory anyway.

At the top of the list will automatically be "close friends" and relatives you've confirmed at some point. Others are based on factors such as how much you stalk them (past or present) or how many times you've sent messages back and forth, or how many public interactions you've had with that person. Others are the randoms I mention above.


0 
Portlandia, I agree that some randoms are being thrown in to a otherwise relevant list. I checked my list today after not looking at it for a couple weeks, and my #7, #8 and #14 are adult professional friends who I know do not spend time on fb (one's a corp vp who barely sees her own family).

My #3 is someone I stalk, and I'd like to think he is viewing me but I think that ranking is more me viewing him. My #1 and #2 are very close friends. There must be many factors in this list, and those factors may continuously change, too. But it's fun guessing!


0 
I've been trying to figure this out, but to no avail. The profile whom I view the most is my girlfriend's, and I assume she views mine a lot too. She is my number one.
My number two, however, is a guy whom I've never interacted with or even viewed his profile. He's a guy also, presumably straight, and we aren't that good of friends at all. For him to be my number two is very strange to me.
Other than that, the others seem to match up. Three and four are immediate family. The rest are my good friends. There's a few girls on there too who I presume may be viewing my profile. I don't interact much with them, so I can't think of any reason otherwise.

This whole thing is a mind-fuck. Someone please provide accurate evidence with valid sources.
I MUST KNOW THIS ALGORITHM.


0 
For me, the very end of the list was made up of a bunch of abandoned accounts that were almost never used. The rarely used accounts had no more than a few friends themselves. A few minutes ago I added myself as a friend on my own false account (I've had it for roughly a year, had myself friended and un-friended during that time... but there was no interaction), accepted my false account's friend request, and logged back into the false account and pressed F5 repeatedly on my page for about a minute. Then I checked the code again... my false account was the very last name on the list.

As for the top friends, they match up with the names that appear on my initial chat list, in that order--which is alphabetical, but only among the few names listed. All of the names made perfect sense as far as overall interaction (private messages, commenting/liking posts, tagging) is concerned, apart from two: one with whom I've traded a few private messages 1-2 years ago, and another with whom I've simply never interacted.

But like someone already mentioned, some of those names could just be random throw-ins, maybe having to do something with mutual friends? It just seems like Facebook wants you to connect with more and more people... so they mix it up a bit, making people with whom they think you'd want to connect appear next to those with whom you frequently do.

The names that appeared after the initial chat group seemed to make sense, too.

I guess it would also make sense that the abandoned accounts--basically not having interacted at all--would make up the bottom of the list, if it were simply based on every instance of interaction (and maybe probability of interaction based on the account's level of activity?) NOT counting page views. My false account certainly wouldn't have been dead last...

So I guess a myriad factors influence the list, which aren't necessarily the same for everyone. Comments here are evidence of that.


0 
I think Facebook changed the algorithm for this. It was more accurate when few people knew about this. Of course if I am FB, I would definitely throw in some revisions on the website as it would compromise its mantra of never showing page views. I mean come on, it's just a matter of googling how to know your top friends list online, what makes you think FB couldn't search it on google as well????


0 
i got the algorithm. within top 10-15 friends you will find your real top 10-11 friends ( stalkers+stalked+real close frnds), rest 3-4 are randoms, this 3-4 you never care about type person also they are not active on fb.


0 
I think the algorithm has changed since December. Besides the first person, there are a lot of randoms thrown in to throw us off the scent in between the ones who we interact the most with. In the beginning, I think it was who we talked to the most on FB privately and an amalgamation of respective profile views, because the guy I'm seeing and I talked a lot on FB chat but not so much in liking pictures or commenting on each other's pages.


0 
I'm actually scared shitless right now. I'm friends with this girl in Grade 6, and she's my number 2. O.o


0 
FB changed this already. It's no longer a way to know your stalker. It's more on the mutual interaction to your friends and some random friends they throw in the list. So we're just laboring in vain if we keep on thinking about how this list connects to your profiles views. There's no way we can know now who is stalking since they changed this already.


0 
I think its the people who you stalk yourselves


0 
I think everyone is getting mixed up in two different ideas..

what i think is, facebook have set up an algorithm to decide who you would most likely want to talk to, this takes in to account things such as maybe what you put as your job or political views or hometown etc as well as interaction. This is so that when you open chat it can put at the top those who you would probably speak to!!
So obviously, you're bound to get your good friends in the list as well as some people you may never speak to but according to the algorithm you have a lot in common.

As far as i am aware this would make sense for any inconsistencies.. so effectively it is based on a number of factors that facebook thinks would determine your best friends and hence allows them to put them at the top of your chat list.


0 
Okay...here are my findings...I think it may have something to do with the chat bar...only because two of my top three on the orderedfriendlist are often the last people left when I drag the bar down to show only one person. What IS interesting....has anyone noticed that when you go to YOUR page and refresh that the top person on the chat bar sometimes changes? Mine always changes between persons 1 and 3 (from below). But...I'm not sure it has anything to do with that person (the one who's left when you drag the bar down) being online, because I've often turned on the chat immediately after it changes to see if that person is online and they're not. My top person DOES often access FB through phone, but I know for a fact that #3 accesses FB only through the computer.

Person 1 on my list with the initials TM- a friend from high school whom I've NEVER chatted with, but I've had some mutual interaction with on FB (messaged, liked/commented on posts, etc...). Other than the time that I just now put in the facebook.com/her number....I've maybe visited her page twice? I have suspected that she often visits my page, but not totally sure.

Person 2 on my list with the initials MA - another high school friend (not that close with, though) whom I've NEVER messaged or chatted with. I was tagged in a picture with her two months ago. I've NEVER had ANY OTHER INTERACTION with this girl other than what I've stated. I've visited her page...again...maybe twice?

Person 3 on my list with the initials ZF - a guy I liked (another from high school, btw!) and I believe he liked me...due to various things that happened, we did not get together...we're still "friends" even though we don't speak that regularly...one of those, bad timing deals...anyway, admittedly, I have visited his page more than any other person on my friend's list. I spoke with him through messaging back in August. Other than that? NOTHING. I've NEVER liked any of his posts, pics, etc...and he's NEVER liked any of mine.

Findings:
1) it CANNOT be based on alpha for first OR last name. As you can see, my first person's name begins with a "T" and my second person's first name begins with a "M". It also can't be based on last name because again, my first person's last name begins with an "M" and my second person's last name begins with an "A". If that were the case, my number 2 person would come before the number 1 person.

2) It also CANNOT be based on how many of times you've chatted with the person. I've NEVER chatted with
any of these people.

3) It also CANNOT be based on MY visits to their pages because if that were true, my number 3 person would definitely be number 1. And...again...I've "maybe" visited the top two people's pages twice?

Just not sure, but I know it can't strictly be based on chat or YOUR attention given to that person. I mean, I've had some interaction with my number 1 person openly on FB, but I've interacted with far more people than her, so why would she be #1? Also, I'm just stumped about #2. I was tagged in ONE picture with her two months ago and that's it...What is also interesting is that all three have rotated through my top six friends boxes. Number 2 doesn't rotate as much, but 1 and 3 quite often.

Hmmmmmm


0 
Word of caution:
They changed the name of this feature to "InitialChatFriendsList:" and they make it very difficult to find. If you try to Ctrl + F search for it, it will not come up, so you physically have to find it. I found that it is written in RED and they change the location of it within the list, which I found it to be in in any of three spots: one just less than half-way down, one just a bit over half-way down, and the other just about a quarter of the way down. They all start with the title "InitialChatFriendsList:" and followed by an immediate succession of numbers, written in RED. Just like a book, left to right and top to bottom are how they are organized. Their exact meaning, I'm still experimenting.


0 
I was a little skeptical. Of course I wanted to believe it was real because its something people are curious about. My top 5 ( this will sound terrible) but were my ex boyfriends in order as in from most recent ex boyfriend etc. I have just checked today and the list has changed a lot. I wonder if its by year ?(2013) but I don't think its by interaction. because my number 1 and I have NEVER chatted via facebook. There is a girl as my number 7 who I have never met in my life and doesn't even live in the same country but we are FB friendsO___o


0 
i was able to look at the list once, but now when i put in orderedfriends, it says no matches found?? anyone else had this problem?


0 
the other day, i saw someone who i havent seen in like 5 years in a cafe, and we used to be good friends in primary school. we haven't talked or interacted whatsoever on facebook in years either. Then, later that same day they appeared in that separate list in chat. I don't think that's coincidence, so I assume they must have checked out my profile after seeing me, to just see what's happening. it's not a good time for the stalkers eh!


0 
Something strange since some days. 5 days ago my crush totally vanished from that list and the chat bar.... And now he's on my chat bar again but not on my ordered friends list. Just strange, and I wonder why.


0 
I've tried this and it appears to me to be the most recent people you have interacted with...


0 
It's been patched.


0 
Hello everyone, I have read many articles and posts on this issue, I have even tried different theories such as “search bar order”, “InitialChatFriendsList” o the Source Code and recently the java script so called “Facebook Friends Rankings” which works on a non secure connection on FB (http rather than https), I have also asked close friends (who are ranked top in this list) about their visits in my wall, pictures and so on (here, I have to add that some felt ashamed in recognizing their visit).
My best guesses are that in fact, interaction is the most used tool to determine the order of the list, this is and in order of importance: Chat, comments, tags, likes etc.
Having said that, comes the question, “How come there are people on the list that I never chat with (whatever the reason is), no comments, no likes, no tags, no visits to their wall from your side, in short NO NOTHING???
Well, here are considerations to keep in mind: There are people in my list ranked top 30, 20 and even 10, and believe me, I have about 5 people in my top 10 with whom I have no connection at all on FB rather than just being friends. Anyhow, I do have contact with them by phone or instant message software and some of them have told me that they do visit my profile, one them actually told me that she visits my wall at least four times a week, by the way, she has been blocked for over a month from my chat and have not interacted with her for at least two months for this “experiment” purpose. As I said, some of those people are blocked from my chat, which means, they or me, cannot, but any chance, see if I am on line or vice versa, but weird enough, are still there in the top 10 list.
In this regards and adding all these considerations, I strongly believe that in the case where there is no interaction whatsoever with someone, and that someone is ranked at least 20, then, there is a high chance that the “stalking visits” are considered in this order.
Cheers everyone


0 
I have no results when i try to find orderedfriends


0 
It can't be. I have guy i knew from school on there who died in 2009. I haven't removed him from my friends list but he appeared in the top quarter of the list as i was cycling through it. Up until that point it seemed like it could be though. Also the list of id numbers is after "initialchatsfriendlist" - likely little to do with who has been viewing your profile imo.


0 
It's gotta be stalkers. My wife is number two but number 5 is some kid I went to high school with never chatted messages or went in his page!


0 
Here is my conclusion:

I can guanrantee ONE thing - It is NOT whose page you stalk the most.

My crush appeared as number 5 on my list at the beginning. Then I did an experiment: I stopped going to his page for an entire month to see if his ranking would drop. That is - I NEVER even visited his profile page for a single time this whole past month, and guess what, he is now at number 4. Also, we NEVER like each other's photos, we NEVER comment on each other's walls. We are pretty much "strangers", if you will, on facebook.

However..

I do chat a lot with him on facebook. That is pretty much the ONLY interaction we've had recently.

But, there are also people whom I hardly chat with, but rank higher than him.

So this is what I conclude:

Facebook calculates this list with the following decreasing order of importance: Chat, tagged in same photos, and then there's profile views (who is viewing your page). It has to be in there, it has to be to explain the aberrations I'm getting.

Anyway, good luck to you all.


0 
it's ChatOrderedList


0 
After reading every comment here I've concluded that anyone who seems to know anything about computers have without a doubt concluded this is not a list of people who visit your page the most.

People who seem to have no real clue, and are comfortable taking guesses based on what they "think" it is, seem to think this is a list based on people who visit your profile.

If I had a plumbing question I would ask a plumber. Not just a guy who used the toilet a lot.

The evidence suggests this is a combination of people whom you interact with the most and/or are online on your chat list.

I'm confident that Facebook does not allow regular visitors to see who visits their profile the most. In fact it might be against Facebook's own TOS.


0 
This article http://techguyjames.com/?p=125 suggests the list is a combination of :
Same School
Same Work Places
Commenting on Posts
Liking of Posts
Friends in Common
Relationships
And… Profile View Count


0 
I would like to know what does the number next to the person id mean:
#####-2
#####-3
and #####-0
If you look at the list you can find several time the same person id but with different number. That must mean something.
My guess is -2 is you chatted with recently. But I am not convinced...could be someone stalking or that you are stalking too...
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