by M. J. Joachim

Created on: November 03, 2009   Last Updated: November 04, 2009

Making friends on Facebook is a fairly simple process. You sign up to get an account, and tell everyone you know about it. Okay, maybe not everyone. There is that crazy guy from church who will only drive you crazy if he has access to your Facebook Wall. And then there are those co-workers who seem perfectly harmless, but you can never be too careful, right? It makes sense to proceed with caution, especially if you barely know the people you are inviting to join you as friends.

*Join a Facebook community: Facebook has the art of networking down, and there are lots of communities to participate in. If you ever watch your local news, chances are they are constantly inviting you to join their group and express your opinion about the latest stories. Perhaps you already belong to an internet community like Helium or Associated Content. These groups created Facebook communities so you could socialize with your peers. If you belong to a group outside of Facebook, it would be good to do a search and see if they have a community Facebook page.

*Join a Facebook cause: You will meet lots of new people when you join Facebook causes. They all have one thing in common too. They want to promote, defend, or support the same thing you do. As you get to know people through forums, discussions, fundraisers and other activities, you are likely to make lots of Facebook friends.

*Play Facebook games: Mafia Wars, FarmTown, Sorority Groups, Family Connections, and several other games invite you to make neighbors and get to know people a little better before inviting them to be your actual friends. Once you feel comfortable, send them a private message letting them know you look forward to getting to know them better.

*Enjoy Facebook applications: Send smiles, take quizzes, increase your heart beat and have a wonderful time passing the love around. The more you give, the more you get, and you'll meet people who give and receive too.

*Post thoughtful messages: Who wouldn't send you a friend request when they realize how considerate you are? Invite people to get to know you better with the posts you write. The more times you get comments on your posts, the more likely others will be interested in what you have to say. You will get lots of friend requests when your posts are intriguing.

*Respond to your friend's posts: Notice what others are saying and doing on Facebook, and become an active player. Let them know you care enough to say so. True friendship takes time to nurture and develop, so take the time with your Facebook friends, and you will have more friends than you will ever be able to keep track of in no time.

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