Working with newcomers to Facebook, I get similar questions about friends, friend requests, adding friends, etc. In this article I have compiled the 10 most important tips that will answer the most pressing questions you may have:

Tip #1: Friends on Facebook are not necessarily friends in real life

Anyone you are linked to on Facebook is considered a friend. In real life, these people can be family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, or people you know but have never met. Let go of your notion of real life friends and think of them here as your connections.

Tip #2: Who to add

It really depends on what you want to share and with whom. If you just want to share what you’ve been up to over the weekend, post some family photos, and connect with old friends, then you’re only really connecting with friends and family. However, if you are using this social network to promote your business or events, you can add additional people, giving you more exposure and increasing your potential to reach people.

Tip #3: Add friends

There are many different ways to add friends and this is a topic for another article. At first just pay attention to the friend requests you receive through your friends network and confirm who you want to be connected with. If a red number appears in the friend symbol, which you’ll find next to the name ‘facebook’ in the top navigation, you know there are friends waiting for your approval.

Tip #4: Don’t accept a friend

If you don’t want to accept a person who has requested to be your friend, don’t worry: you won’t receive a message. Just click ‘Not now’ and they will disappear.

Tip #5: Interact with friends

A social network lives from your interactions with your friends. If you want them to read and respond to your status updates or comment on your links, you need to engage in conversations. Spend 15-30 minutes a day doing that if you want to create some activities and interactions with your friends.

Tip #6: More or less friends, which is better?

There are no rules about this. Some members seem to like collecting friends and Facebook has personal profiles limited to 5000 friends. But really, if you want to reach a large number of people, it usually means you want to promote yourself or your business, which means you really want to build a business page.