Lately, I’ve been getting friend requests on Facebook and Brightkite from complete strangers. While you may follow me on Twitter or interact with me on Plurk/Jaiku/Pownce, I still may not know who you are.
It takes an additional 30 seconds of time to click the [add a personal message] link to say why you want to be my friend or how you know me. Chances are, I do want to be your friend. However, if I have no idea who you are and we have no friends in common, you probably just come off kind of creepy. The same thing goes for Brightkite. Right below the “Add to Friends” button is the “Send Message” button. I strongly encourage their use.
Of course, there is a right and wrong way to go about this. I imagine you are all mature enough to figure out the difference, but here’s an example of what NOT to say: “Hi you’re cute! I saw you on (random site), let’s be friends!”.
Please realize my reason for doing this isn’t to be vain or rude. It’s because I have some personal information on there that I don’t want everyone privy to, such as my phone number or my location. I’m sure with a little digging stalkers could find out this information anyway, but it makes me feel a little better knowing I tried to limit this information the best way I could. So unless you want to look like a creeper (which I’m sure you don’t), please be considerate and send a nice message before you click that “Add Friend” button.
