Making Friends Online – Don’t Go Home Alone

We are going to talk about online relationships and how you should build them in this post and to demonstrate the point we are using the timeless example of a guy trying to chat up a girl in a bar. In the real world the guy often gets it wrong by waiting until the end of the night, getting too drunk before coming on too strong and professing his undying love for the girl he has just met and trying to sleep with her on the first night whereupon she decides he is a creep and moves swiftly on. What he should have done of course is simply talk to her, crack some gags, maybe buy her a drink after a while and generally entertain her and ask her out on a date in the future where they could cement their friendship further.

Now lets apply this logic to building good relationships online. Most people take the guy’s approach and come piling in all guns blazing with friend requests, following hundreds of people and shouting about how fantastic they/their product is. Just like the guy in the story above this course of action will result in you going home alone.

What you need to do online is mirror the succesful romeo above and spot people you want to engage with online. Be subtle. Slowly engage them in conversation that you have some knowledge about and where you can add value. Instead of buying them a drink go and comment on their blog or Retweet one of their best tweets, show a little appreciation for their work. Maybe even crack a little joke.

When they show a little love back and give you a follow or start talking to you then you have the start of a relationship, possibly a meaningful one. It’s gonna take some time but Rome wasn’t built in a day