Another surge of posts claiming to be able to reveal your top stalkers on Facebook is doing the rounds, but just how accurate are these claims?
Facebook users are seeing posts like the one below that claims to show the “top stalkers” of the person who posted the message and invites others to find out their own. Upon clicking the link a user is taken to a webpage outside of Facebook and told to install a Facebook App, and from there they are given their own set of “stalkers” and the option to share the graphic on their own Facebook page.
But are these people really your stalkers?
The answer depends very much on how you would define the term stalker in this context. Historically these types of trashy, clickbaity Apps claim to show you which users visit your Facebook profile most frequently. Thus when an App claims to show you your top stalkers we believe that is criteria set forth to determine who qualifies as a stalker, despite that not being explicitly stated by the App, which in this case it isn’t.
However Facebook doesn’t make this information public, so any App that claims to show you who visits your profile the most often and thus who is your top stalker is simply pulling the wool over your eyes. You’re being hoodwinked.
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However what these types of Apps can do is count the number of interactions you’ve had with your Facebook contacts over a period of time (for example the last 2 weeks) and then announce those with the most interactions are your stalkers, albeit this is a pretty dubious use of the term stalker.
Interactions can include comments on your posts, like on your posts or photos, messages sent between you and posts made directly on your wall.
Essentially its interaction that happens on Facebook that you’re aware of. This of course does not include how many times a person visits your Facebook profile.
So are these Apps truly showing your stalkers? No, not really. They’re telling you which users you interact with the most.
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