New to Facebook.  Just created an account.  Use a separate email account for my hobbying activities.  All of a sudden Facebook is suggesting people to add as friends who are providers.  Any clues?  Will appreciate any insight you would be willing to share.

Facebook uses anything and everything to tie people together. You can't just use a different email address and expect them not to find you and your connections. The whole idea of Facebook is to connect EVERYONE! This problem has been talked about repeatedly here. Personally I stay off social media. Impposter will tell you "Avoid Social Media like the plague that it is!"

It's getting hardercand harder to avoid social media nowadays, but I guess if you must be on it, Use different email, different phone number, perhaps even a different computer, (or at least a different browser). If you sign on Facebook with your phone, it's mining your contacts. Also check all your privacy settings on the social media site.

Search that expression (or keywords "social media plague") on General, Newbie and some other boards for longer discussions and other opinions. I suggest that you cancel and erase your FB account right away until you figure out how this stuff works to connect EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE whether they want to be connected or not. And when friends of friends of friends ... get connected, don't be surprised if your little nieces and nephews start getting friended by your adult friends that you hoped would remain disconnected.
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Even if you use different computers or browsers but use the same name to log in somewhere (email, etc.), "the network" can connect you to you. I have seen my (non-hobby) search histories show up on computers that I was just borrowing to read my (non-hobby) email. And my smart phone knows my desktop search histories and connections for targeted ads, etc.. I can reduce some of that stuff but I can't eliminate it.

for explaining yet another reason why I don't use ANY social media.  TER boards and PM's are as close as I get.

Facebook uses a very, very good tracking algorithm to link you to people you know, and therefore build a profile on what ads to show you. They're making millions doing so.

 
 If you want to keep a separate facebook account, you need 2 computers and one of those computers needs a VPN so that, to the internet, it appears to be in a different location. From there, you'll need to register with a different email/phone number and create your account.

 As for what's on said account, well, the content you fill that account with has to be 100% UNIQUE to that account. ANYTHING you put on that account, be it likes, shares, pictures, text posts, etc WILL be used to link your accounts together. Once that happens, there's no way to fix it. You have to burn it and start over. So plan on using a fake name, fake city, fake DOB, fake interests, fake friends, fake employment, fake schooling etc to avoid said linking.

 

 It seems the prevailing opinion on this board is "it's impossible" but what they're really saying is "I'm not clever enough to do it". There are absolutely ways to do it and not run into problems.

...Never is a long time, but that is how long it will be before I use social media other than TER.

Facebook and hobbying is just a bad idea for clients.

END OF MESSAGE

It isn't ONLY a matter of being educated about what to do and being clever enough to make sure to bypass as much as we can know about the methods in use. It can require hardware resources, software resources, constant attention to new tricks that the SM sites are using. Because of the subject matter and the potential consequences of being outed by SM, I don't think that a regular or typical TER user should risk using SM. Many can, but at a cost. (Do you really want two computers on your desk at home, at work, in your briefcase, ...?)
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I don't know if they make use of the data yet, but it is certainly reasonable to assume that two phones (real and hobby) moving through a series of cell towers at the exact same time might be assumed to be "friends." If SM gets that data, real-you might suddenly be friended by hobby-you (through hobby connections to Providers on SM: FB, Twitter, etc.).  
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Beware of the pernicious, nefarious tentacles of SM that will ensnare you and not let go. One simple, inadvertent "click" can open up a crack in the dike protecting you and your privacy. If you think you have it fixed, you probably have nothing, or maybe just air or water, between your ears.

Thank you, all, for all the instructive comments.

I originally used a dumb old flip phone for my hobbying. Then I got a smartphone, put the numbers of my favorites in, and suddenly got facebook friend suggestions under their real names.  Every provider needs to use a separate phone for her business to prevent this from happening.  Us clients should do the same.

There must be linkage somewhere. I became aware that ITEMS I looked at on shopping sites esp Amazon... and decided against...  suddenly became were popping up in ads on FB or Yahoo.  It p[issed me off, Since Idecided not to buy.  I got a bunch of free e-addesses & started directing things in different directions.  I work hard to not give a phone number for verification.  Any scrap of information will link you.  

I agree that small leaks sink big ships. The situation is much different from that though, because in this case your ship is actively being shot at.  

 

However, I don't agree that it's an unacceptable risk, and I outlined risk mitigation in my post. If you do all that, you don't have anything to worry about for the time being.

 

>do you want multiple computers

That's just the simple way to do it. I personally use virtual machines to handle that side of it, and my hobby VM only touches the internet via a VPN so no worries there. This is outside of the technical abilities of most people, so I'm not recommending it. I'm happy to help people set it up, but that business is best left to PM.

>new tricks

Most of the current development is focusing on site side scripting, so running a good adblocker (ublock origin is my go-to) will take care of most of it. Outside of that, they're developing some pretty smart heuristics algorithms that could potentially connect you to your alter-ego, but currently they're used for finding people similar to you in order to show you ads. You have to remember that showing you ads doesn't mean identifying who you are.

 
>Tenticles

This is just the thing. Eventually they'll be able to figure out if you're seeing escorts, or likely to see escorts, from your normal online patterns. They don't need social media to do so because everything you do online is tracked. Combine that with TER using google analytics (they do) and the dots aren't hard to connect and if you're reading this, well, google knows you're here.

 

What I'd like to point out from all of this are these three things:

1) It's too late if you want 'real' privacy.

2) They (whoever "they" is) don't really care that you're seeing escorts

3) They won't care until you're careless/clueless enough to become the new 'low hanging fruit'

If you have an app, it is picking up your location and the location of other Facebook users in the area. So other than phone numbers, that is how social media knows your friends.  

I recommend logging into social media via web browser only to cut down the risk.

Every single time that you download an app you give it permission to collect and share data about you. Every single time that you visit a website your browser enables the site to deposit cookies to track and use information about you. Apps and websites share info about you with each other simultaneously. Ever heard of Digital Footprint?

Before you download an app it says it needs permission to have access to this and that and all of that. You agree when you download it. The cookies from sites you have visited have been happening forever! I used to wonder about that until I schooled by a computer tech that filled me in (yes he was a client of mine so he filled me in takes on multiple meanings hubba hubba!) I don't social media as I would hate for my clients to be suggested for my friends but guys and ladies be careful with that!!!

This is why I only have a personal Facebook, NOT a professional Facebook account.  I know gals that created a "pro" account, only for their friends and family to find it through the Facebook "friend suggestions".