Build Your Facebook Friend List
Let me start this by telling you that having a large friend list on FB is NOT going to mean that all, or even most, or even several of your friends will actually read your posts.
In fact, out of almost 2000 friends on my list, probably only 30 - 40 of them ever respond to my posts.
Why build a big list? Networking is one possibility.
Maybe you have something you want to market or sell.
Because of the strategies FB is implementing, this is getting less and less effective.
But..
you might be able to reinvent the wheel.
In the beginning I would send Add Friend Requests to people who had a lot of mutual friends with me.
Even when I became selective, however, and only sent those requests to people with more than 100 mutual friends, it would occasionally backfire.
I've been blocked by FB at least 6 times.
Once it was for 30 days..
but my friends list continued to grow during that time.
I also learned that most businesses will respond to an Add Friend Request.
However, it wouldn't do much good to have a big list of just businesses.
I joined groups and would post "Please add me as your FB friend.
" It worked.
No big rush, just a steady growth.
But, you can run out of potential friends in a group rather quickly.
Why? Most people are "lurking" and not wanting to get involved.
Also, many people think it is dangerous to add unknown people to their list.
Interesting.
Everyone needs to understand the effectiveness of "blocking".
By this I mean that if I add someone and they become rude or annoying, I can easily block them.
That means I can no longer see their profile and they cannot see mine.
Problem solved.
Finally, I developed a graphic which said "Thanks for being my FB friend".
But, it also has information on adding me as a friend, and inviting them to send an add friend request.
It has worked the best of all strategies.
I post this graphic on the profile of each new FB friend.
This is then seen by that new friend's friends.
When they see that I welcome new FB friends, some of them then send me a FB friend request.
This takes the onus away from me, and I can accept the new requests.
I get a pretty steady stream of Add Friend Requests this way, averaging about 10 - 15 per week.
In fact, out of almost 2000 friends on my list, probably only 30 - 40 of them ever respond to my posts.
Why build a big list? Networking is one possibility.
Maybe you have something you want to market or sell.
Because of the strategies FB is implementing, this is getting less and less effective.
But..
you might be able to reinvent the wheel.
In the beginning I would send Add Friend Requests to people who had a lot of mutual friends with me.
Even when I became selective, however, and only sent those requests to people with more than 100 mutual friends, it would occasionally backfire.
I've been blocked by FB at least 6 times.
Once it was for 30 days..
but my friends list continued to grow during that time.
I also learned that most businesses will respond to an Add Friend Request.
However, it wouldn't do much good to have a big list of just businesses.
I joined groups and would post "Please add me as your FB friend.
" It worked.
No big rush, just a steady growth.
But, you can run out of potential friends in a group rather quickly.
Why? Most people are "lurking" and not wanting to get involved.
Also, many people think it is dangerous to add unknown people to their list.
Interesting.
Everyone needs to understand the effectiveness of "blocking".
By this I mean that if I add someone and they become rude or annoying, I can easily block them.
That means I can no longer see their profile and they cannot see mine.
Problem solved.
Finally, I developed a graphic which said "Thanks for being my FB friend".
But, it also has information on adding me as a friend, and inviting them to send an add friend request.
It has worked the best of all strategies.
I post this graphic on the profile of each new FB friend.
This is then seen by that new friend's friends.
When they see that I welcome new FB friends, some of them then send me a FB friend request.
This takes the onus away from me, and I can accept the new requests.
I get a pretty steady stream of Add Friend Requests this way, averaging about 10 - 15 per week.