[FACT OR FAKE #96] Does This 'One Weird Trick' Really Reveal Your Phone's Name?
Facebook users are excitedly passing around word of a bizarre, hidden feature that claims to reveal the name of your phone. It's an old message that keeps circulating. We at SAYS decided to put an end to it by running it through our FACT OR FAKE analysis.
By Sadho Ram — 01 Mar 2015, 02:44 PM
Message circulating on Facebook claims that entering the last 3 digits of your mobile number into a Facebook comment will reveal the "name" of your smartphone
It's a popular message that keeps making the Facebook rounds. First originated in February 2012, the original post has been shared for over 20K times.
The formula you enter on Facebook is @[X:0], where X stands any number, at least up to ten digits long. Contrary to the image’s suggestion, not every number works. You can type it into any comment field on the site. (It works exactly the same way as when you type the character “@” and a friend’s name you want to mention.)
dailydot.comFAKE: While it's fun, sadly it has no basis in reality
Entering the last 3 digits of your phone number in the way described will indeed reveal a name. However, it is NOT the name of your phone! The message is just a prank, albeit a rather interesting one.
What's happening here is that Facebook is simply reading your digits as a profile ID number, and translating them accordingly
The theory some are advancing—which, despite being posted on Yahoo Answers, appears to be accurate—is that the number refers to the unique numeric ID in a user’s profile. (If you know this number, you can get to the user’s profile by typing facebook.com/X in your browser.) The names associated with the smaller numbers, therefore, are Facebook’s first users.
dailydot.com