With the explosion of social networking this phrase is rarely uttered verbally.  Now, we see this in the form of an e-mail stating that we have a new “friend request”.  Sometimes we are lucky and it is someone from our past employment or school that we had lost touch with and sometimes we aren’t so lucky.

Finding new friends online isn’t as easy as finding some pictures of people that you think look nice and making a request.  Sure they may add you as friend to be nice, but could you ever count on them to help you? Or if they made a request from you needing help in some fashion would you lend a hand to help them?

Meeting friends as kids

Growing up and going to school italways seemed easy to make friends.  OK, for Joe and I it might have been a bit easier.  Being identical twins it seems the attention has always made it a bit easier to meet new people.  Being put together in a classroom where you would spend 6+ hours a day with people forced you to meet your classmates and make friends.  After all if you didn’t have some alliances by lunch time it would be a lonely place!

In the professional world though making new friends is a bit more difficult.  You aren’t forced to be with new people for extended periods of time so it takes more effort to make new friends.  The time commitment can be even greater when in a new office, city, or neighborhood.  Inevitably though in any situation we tend to make new friends based off of common interests, goals, etc.

Find common ground

If you were on our call, Network like a Hollywood Pro, you heard Mark Jannone state that you can make any call to someone if you reach out to them on common ground.  It could be a small thread but it’s a great way to start a conversation.  In the social networking world you can even reach out by e-mail and find some common ground. 

For real estate consider some of these simple openers for use in your e-mail.

  • I’m new to social networking, but I noticed in your profile that you are from [San Diego], I was born there but now operate my real estate business in [Santa Monica].  How is your real estate business doing?
  • I noticed in your profile that you attended [USC].  I really enjoyed my years there.  What was your area of study?  I hope business is going great for you.

It doesn’t have to be earth shattering, but try to find common ground.  You wouldn’t walk up to a complete stranger and ask them “Will you be my friend?” so don’t do the same action online.  Take some time to find a bit of common ground and then ask them to be part of your network when you see a fit.  It takes a bit more time, but you will have a much stronger network!

Related must reads: