On Facebook, what determines the eight friends that are displayed in that 4x2 grid of profile pictures?

Some observation indicates that they seemed to be sorted by login times. Those friends who recently logged in to FB are shown first. Tie breaking could be random. However, I am probably wrong.

I've been wondering about this for a while, and there is evidence to suggest that it's a randomly ordered list of people you interact with or people who interact with you (possibly weighted by intensity of interaction as well as recency of interaction). Some evidence to support this notion:   - Facebook tracks who you look at or interact with via a ranking score (scary, but it helps make their search function more efficient for you): http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/17/in-zuck-confidimus/ If you want the applet to look at your own friend ranking, check out this site though I haven't tried it recently so I'm not sure if it still works (It doesn't work if you are using https): http://thekeesh.com/2011/08/who-does-facebook-think-you-are-searching-for/ It would be interesting to see what actions change this score (something I've been meaning to test but haven't gotten around to) - Based off this, there seems to be some sort of weighting system at play to make the list semi-persistent.  If you interact with a person heavily (sharing many photo tags, many wall posts, searching for them a lot, etc) these people tend to be on the list.  But if you haven't done these actions recently, someone new whom you've interacted with recently seems to appear in their place.    - Refreshing your page shuffles the list, but the same people seem to remain on this extended list (even if a friend has logged on more recently, for example) - the number of people shuffled is larger than the 8.    - Sometimes, people appear on my list that I haven't personally interacted with recently (ie: I haven't chatted, stalked, or otherwise paid attention to) or have shared too many interactions with in the past.  I suspect that Facebook takes into account whether they've been stalking you (and lists them to help play matchmaker and get you to talk to them).  Of course, I have no insider knowledge and would be interested to see what the official response is.  But I think it makes sense to list people who you care about (those you actively stalk) and people who care about you (those who stalk you) - after all, I assume one looks at his or her own Facebook page more frequently than any other given page, so it's a good way to entice us to interact with people.

I just looked at my eight, except that for me it is ten, and I can tell you some specific interaction I have had with each of them in the last 48-72 hours. Melanie - wished her Happy Birthday yesterday - liked a status he posted Susan - liked a comment a mutual friend left on her wall Cyreena - liked a status she posted Rosemary - wished her a Happy Birthday Storm - liked a photo Tara - another Happy Birthday greeting Cathy - another Happy Birthday greeting Jack - posted a link on his Wall a few days ago, liked something he posted yesterday Lori - posted a link on her Timeline, exchanged comments on it In fairness, I've had tons of interactions in the past 48-72 hours with many other people on FB, not just these. But that does appear to be the common denominator for my list.

I'm not sure about the 4x2 grid. But there is one 3x2 grid of profile pictures on the top, which always somehow shows the people who are most likely to visit my profile.

Well, for a start, there is no definitive answer to this question. Put another way, Facebook's Graph API deliberately injects an element of randomness along with purely calculated methods. That's why there is so much conjecture. Search Google and you will see what I mean. It's a closely guarded secret, and it's given to change at any time, just as Google often tweak their search algorithms. However... the basics are as follows:Facebook calculates a social closeness score for every pair of nodes (that's you and your friends) in its social graph. This is used as a social proximity value to rank each person's friends and this ranking is reflected throughout the site. It's also used for determining which people's posts show up in your Newsfeed, which mutual friends are shown on Profile pages, and which people's Likes and social ads are shown in the right sidebar.Facebook used to have an algorithm called Edgerank. It used three factors to determine social proximity, affinity, weight, and decay: how much you interact, what kind of interactions, and how long ago.The current formula is more complex as it uses machine learning to calculate from thousands of data points. But assuming the basic tenets are the same, the equation likely weighs various types of interactions differently. Being tagged with someone in a photo or attending the same event is a better indicator that you’re close to them than liking a news story they shared or commenting on a wall post.You can get some insight into how it works by viewing your https://www.facebook.com/help/437430672945092. Facebook tracks and records everything you do on the site, and if you browse through you can see all those little interactions, and draw a line between those and how the algorithm seems to rank your friends and determine the most important. But remember, sometimes it just throws random people in there to confuse you, or possibly nudge you into interacting with them.And the list is probably updated multiple times a day.One last thing to remember, if it's even true, is that Facebook has always maintained that their algorithms only use public interactions.Lastly, you can use this http://bloggerclubb.blogspot.com/2014/03/your-facebook-friends-ranking.html to see who Facebook thinks are your best friends. You may be surprised by some of the names in the list.

See and http://www.gotknowhow.com/answers/how-are-the-8-friends-pictures-chosen-in-your-facebook-profile-timeline. Both of them not official but reasonable explanations. Also you might want to merge/redirect your question with/to the above one since they are identical.

Facebook's calculation appears to concentrate on offering data from individuals to whom you interact the most. If you look close where your status bar is, you will see a choice perusing "sort" click on that and protect it demonstrates later. Facebook ascertains a "social closeness" score for each pair of hubs in its social diagram. They utilize this social nearness score to rank every individual's companions and this positioning is reflected all through the site - it's utilized for figuring out which individuals' posts appear in Newsfeed, which shared companions are appeared on Profile pages, which individuals' Likes and social advertisements are appeared in the right rail, and so forth. Since the FB social chart changes each day (e.g., as individuals include new friends), the social closeness score should be redesigned consistently. The genuine scoring calculation itself is restrictive to Facebook, however is likely taking into account customary social diagram separation measurements created in the educated community. There are parcels and heaps of diagram structure and cooperation flags that can go into a social nearness score! Note that comparable systems/calculations are used by pretty much every organization that takes a shot at social applications and correspondence items. Facebook says they utilize a calculation that considers the general population who interface most with you freely. Things like posts they make on your divider, photographs where both of you are labeled, occasions you both go to, remarks on one another's posts or photographs, and so forth. Facebook makes an astounding showing selecting 8 companions from your hundreds or a great many friends while keeping it new and fascinating. Facebook inside keeps up an edge diagram which basically reflects ones correspondence with their companions on Facebook. Every time there is a cooperation with a companion through a divider post, label, talk; an easygoing visit to their profile, the edge chart is redesign to mirror this data. Edge charts are utilized to figure out which companions consistently show up on the Friends list on ones profile. I recommend reading http://www.justawiki.com/what-determines-which-friends-photos-show-up-on-your-facebook-timeline/ to learn more.

The present recipe is more mind boggling as it uses machine figuring out how to ascertain from a great many information focuses. In any case, accepting the fundamental principles are the same, the condition likely weighs different sorts of communications in an unexpected way. Being labeled with somebody in a photograph or going to the same occasion is a superior pointer that you're near them than enjoying a news story they shared or remarking on a divider post.

Having a look at this question, I peeped into my account.. though I don't use FB much.... ( Am a G+ fan ). For my discretion, most of the time, I get to see list of friends, with whom I "Never Interact" quite frequently...frequency of  interaction may be as least as once in an year . So, I'm strongly convinced that, this is just a "Random" list.. :-) - Also, though it is hard to speculate, I feel it's more like orkut's list of recent visitors...