Embodiments are directed towards providing a list of potential friends to a user based on an analysis of friends' contact lists. The user may provide a subset of friends within a contact list for analysis, along with a degree of separation over which to perform the analysis, and/or a minimum threshold number of occurrences for identifying a candidate friend. The subset of friends' contact lists may then be recursively traversed and merged, where common friends may be identified as members of a candidate set for suggesting friends to the user. In one embodiment, the candidate members may be retained within the candidate set if there is a commonality between the friends and the candidate that exceeds the minimum threshold. The candidate list may also be rank order using various approaches, including a weighted energy diffusion model based in part on a number of communications between the candidates.