How does facebook "decide" which posts to suggest for you?

[Terrier (UK)]

I've had a few "suggested posts" recently & wondered whether they were picked at random, picked because the advertiser has paid for everybody to get that suggestion or if it's based upon something else (or some combination of the 3, or something else).

[chichinda]

GUESS WHAT i told mark to do it!

[Brian]

Facebook has some complex algorithmics behind what it suggests to you (both adverts and more personal suggestions), it will base it a combination of things including: posts you have liked, groups you're a member of, stats such as your age and gender, even things your friends have liked, and more.
So yeah sometimes the suggestions seem a bit random, but there's a complicated computer program working behind the scenes deciding what to show you, based on what it thinks you want to see.