Art of the Friend Request

Making friends is a difficult, heartbreaking process in any setting. The internet--a place where one can skip the obligatory niceties that accompany face-to-face interactions--is a lot like the popular girl on the school bus on the first day of third grade, who promises she will be your best friend if you don't sit next to her. It's cold. It already has millions of friends. It doesn't need you.

The best bit of advice I "stumbled upon" actually came from a StumbleUpon user's profile:

"Friend requests will not, in general, be reciprocated. Rather, the thing to do is to drop me a message and be friendly. That does not mean "can we be friends?", but just making conversation. Okay, it's true that conversation isn't my greatest forte, but accumulating "friends" at random has to be one of the web's more meaningless activities. As with life, these things needs to be worked at!"

He points out that online interaction actually mirrors real life more than we think. How would you feel if a stranger came up to you on the street and requested your friendship? The old "Check this box if you like me" note trick went out of style in grade school. Friendship takes time. The only thing you can do is be patient and, well, friendly.