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How to Make Friends Online: 5 Steps for Success

Making friends online can be a great way to expand your social circle and connect with people who share your interests. But it's important to follow some basic rules of etiquette to make sure you have a positive experience.

If you don't know how to do something, it can be hard. Many of us get lucky and end up making friends without trying too hard.

Life doesn't stop and friends can be made at any stage. Hopefully, these are some practical tips to help you get started.

Start increasing interactions with people you already see. It could be saying hello to someone you see but don't talk to, or adding some personal chat to your daily interactions. It can be as simple as how are you? Did you have a good weekend? Comment on the weather, and the change of season, give a bit of information about yourself and ask unintrusive questions.

Build a rapport with people as they start to respond. This means taking a genuine interest in what they are saying and offering something about you in return. Smile, be sympathetic when required, and remember details about the things they mentioned. How was that film you mentioned, or did you get out in the garden with the good weather this weekend?

Believe yourself worthy of the interactions. Stop all negative talk and enjoy the connection. Don't carry expectations, just appreciate the brightness that you can bring to someone's day and vice versa.

Say yes and be bold. If you get an invite to a work get-together or see a group meeting being arranged on social media, commit to going. At worst you'll try something new and have something interesting to talk about. At best, you could meet some like-minded people, improve your connections with colleagues and be one step closer to friendship.

Build slowly. It won't necessarily happen overnight and not every interaction will lead to friendship, but they will all be good practice, and they will add some human connection to your day. Don't rush, which means you need to let things develop naturally. Keep making an effort but let them come to you sometimes. Just a quick question could prompt them to start something more personal, especially if you are genuinely interested.

For example, there was this girl in my golf class. I saw her in golf and talked to her a couple of times, but we never became friends. I noticed she played a lot of intramurals because I’d play against her in basketball and football. One day I saw her at the bars.

I walked up, and said “Hey! I see you play against me in intramurals all the time! It’s so hard to find girls who play multiple sports for intramural teams. Wanna be friends and make a team?”

She said yeah. We were probably on 10 teams together football, volleyball, basketball, ultimate frisbee, and tennis. We won 5 championships. We became really close friends and I still talk to her to this day.

Making friends doesn’t have to be hard. Just be upfront about it.

Good luck. Friends come in many forms and remember that you have something to offer.

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