Originally Posted by Drip

When you do a lot of runs in quick succession (like the spawned maps during the previous event), they may eventually show up. The list of allies seems somewhat ordered by activity.
That said, the reason I keep Thewind there, is that his squad was a major help when I just started playing and was still figuring out how things worked. So, just in case he ever returns, I'd like to return the favor. His attributions to some of the early posts here were pretty helpful as well, so I'll just see for another half year or something whether he makes a return.

as far as i have noticed it shows you the 24 most active friends at first, when you use one of those friends helper squads then the less active appear next. you can use a friends helper squad once every hour but if a friend hasn't been online a certain amount of days i don't think they show up at all