There are a few potential reasons why Facebook may not be showing you the People You May Know feature. This tool uses your friends list, networks, work and education information, contacts, and more to recommend new people to connect with on Facebook. Here are some things to check if you aren’t seeing suggestions:
Your privacy settings may be restricting the feature
Facebook’s People You May Know recommendations rely on your privacy settings allowing your data to be used for ad targeting and connections. If you have your privacy settings maximized, Facebook can’t access the information needed to generate suggestions. To allow People You May Know, check that you have the following settings enabled:
- Ads based on data from partners is enabled
- Your visibility settings for future posts is set to Public or Friends
- Your visibility settings for past posts is set to Public, Friends, or Custom with Friends of Friends or Public selected
You can find these settings under Privacy Shortcuts or within the Privacy Settings and Tools menu. Make sure none of them are set to Only Me, which will restrict the feature.
You may not have enough Facebook activity
Facebook needs data points to have enough signals to generate recommendations. If you have a sparse profile without many friends, networks, posts, or other activity, Facebook may not have enough to suggest new connections.
To fix this:
- Add more friends and follow more groups/Pages
- Fill out your education and work information sections
- Engage more by reacting, commenting, and posting
- Sync your contacts so Facebook can match you with friends of friends
Increasing your activity will give the People You May Know engine more to work with.
Your account may be new
If you just created your Facebook account, the People You May Know feature won’t immediately start showing you recommendations. Facebook needs some time to learn about you before generating suggestions.
Give it about 2 weeks of regular activity before expecting to see People You May Know start working. The more you add to your profile and engage with Facebook, the sooner it will kick in.
It’s possible you were blocked
In rare cases, someone you know may have intentionally blocked you on Facebook, which prevents you from showing up as a suggestion to them. And vice versa – if you blocked someone, they won’t appear as a recommendation to you either.
If you suspect this is the case, you can either reach out to the person directly to resolve any issues, or simply accept that they likely don’t wish to connect on Facebook at this time for whatever reason.
You hid recommendations
If you previously hid someone’s recommendation by selecting “Hide this suggestion”, Facebook will remember and avoid showing that person to you again.
To reset this, go to the People You May Know page and click “See All”, then click “Undo Hides” at the bottom. This will clear your history of hidden suggestions so new ones can show up again.
Conclusion
In summary, the most common reasons Facebook may not be showing you People You May Know recommendations include having restrictive privacy settings, lacking account activity for Facebook to draw from, having a new account, being blocked by certain connections, or hiding suggestions in the past.
Troubleshooting your settings, increasing engagement, giving it time on newer accounts, resolving blocks/hides, and checking for privacy restrictions can help get People You May Know working properly again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did People You May Know suddenly disappear?
If People You May Know was showing before but then suddenly stopped, the most likely cause is a recent privacy setting change that restricted Facebook from accessing your information. Go through your privacy settings and make sure you have the options mentioned above enabled.
Can I see People You May Know recommendations for someone else?
No, People You May Know suggestions are unique to each account based on that person’s own networks and activity. There is no way to view the PYMK recommendations for another user.
Does blocking someone stop them from seeing me in PYMK?
Yes, if you block someone they will no longer appear as a suggestion for you. And you will no longer show up as a recommendation on their end either once blocked.
Can I report an inappropriate People You May Know recommendation?
Yes – click the three dots next to the person’s name and select “Report”, then choose “It shouldn’t be suggested” to provide feedback to Facebook on that recommendation.
How often does People You May Know update?
The People You May Know feed updates frequently with new suggestions. There is no set schedule, as it relies on signals from your activity. Engaging more on Facebook and connecting with new people/networks will help surface fresh recommendations.
Troubleshooting Tips
Follow these troubleshooting steps if People You May Know is still not showing for you:
- Double check your privacy settings are not too restrictive
- Make sure you don’t have PYMK suggestions hidden
- Engage actively with more posts, friends, groups, and networks
- Add info to your profile like education, work, contact details etc
- Sync your contacts and friends lists with Facebook
- If your account is new, give it 2+ weeks before passing judgment
- Clear browser cookies/cache in case of a glitch
- Make sure you aren’t blocked by a specific connection
- Try logging out and back into Facebook
- Update the Facebook app or try the mobile site
In most cases, adjusting privacy settings, increasing activity, resolving blocks, allowing time on new accounts, and basic troubleshooting steps will get People You May Know working properly again.
Why Facebook’s “People You May Know” Feature Matters
While it may seem intrusive at first glance, Facebook’s People You May Know tool provides some useful benefits:
- Connects you with friends of friends you may actually know offline
- Helps build out your social graph and networks on Facebook
- Surfaces recommendations relevant to your school, workplace, city, interests etc
- Allows discovering new people you have things in common with
- Renew old connections and relationships from the past
When used properly, People You May Know enables serendipitous reconnecting and builds real world community ties on Facebook. It provides value beyond just suggesting random strangers – but also needs enough data signals to work properly.
Maximizing Facebook Privacy While Allowing People You May Know
If you want to keep using the People You May Know feature while maintaining privacy, here are some tips:
- Use friend lists to restrict certain connections from seeing parts of your profile
- Limit visibility of past posts even if set to Friends/Public for new posts
- Don’t accept recommendations from strangers or acquaintances if unsure
- Customize privacy on work/education sections to be more restrictive
- Hide recommendations you don’t want to connect to
- Turn off People You May Know anytime in settings if needed
People You May Know relies on having some personal data accessible, but you can still scope permissions and proactively manage recommendations while benefiting from the feature.
Conclusion
Facebook’s People You May Know can be a useful social graph expansion tool when working properly. If you suddenly stop seeing recommendations, privacy settings, account blocks, recent hides, low activity, or other factors are likely the cause. Addressing those specific issues and allowing Facebook access per above can get People You May Know back up and running.