Do you have a rule of thumb for facebook friending?

[Sarah]

How well do you have to know someone before you add them on facebook? For example, would you find it odd if someone you met once very briefly added you? I'm probably overthinking this, but I want to know when I should friend request someone I met without coming off as creepy. Thanks! =)

[Marina]

There's nothing wrong with adding someone you've met. I do that all the time, and people do it to me. I usually just don't accept friend requests if i don't know them. No need to over think. I think it's fine!

[Biohazard]

I only add someone as a friend if I do or at one point did come into actual contact with them frequently.

[Albert Hallal]

Only if we have mutual friends

[Katie Lala]

if you have mutual friends and deeefinately plan on seeing them again. if its just a brief thing or a hi then no.
i think about it this way, if you added them and they were on chat would you talk to them. if no then dont send a friend request or click ignore.

hope that helped.
x katie

[Joe M.]

It's not odd for someone whom you've met once to ask to add you to their Facebook network (or friends list). Whether you choose to add them, or not, is entirely up to you. Remember--Facebook is a "social networking" site, and the keyword here is "networking."

When it comes to adding to my friends list, my own personal guidelines are as follows:

1) They have to be an actual relative
2) They have to be an actual friend (or former classmate)
3) They have to be someone I've at least met once in real life
4) If I haven't met them at least once in real life, we have to have some sort of "connection."

Elaborating on condition number 4... I once received a message from the younger brother of a friend I had known when I was stationed overseas while in the military. He sent a "message of introduction" saying: "Hello! You probably don't remember me, but you hung-out with my older brother when we were living in the Azores..."

I didn't remember him, by name, but I did remember his brother--who was already on my friends list. Because he took the time to introduce himself and show our connection, I didn't mind adding him to my friends list.

Another time, someone sent me a request saying we had never met, but he was a ran the "Goofy Challenge" (the annual Walt Disney World Full and Half Marathon). Because he was a fellow marathon runner, and especially because the Goofy Challenge is my personal favorite endurance event, I had no qualms adding him to my friends list.

I've turned down many requests from people who have sent me requests, because they've fulfilled none of my "personal rules of thumb" and because they didn't bother sending a message of introduction with their request.

There are many people on Facebook who are "friend collectors" and who merely wish to get as many friends as they can because (perhaps) they think it makes them look more popular. However--that's not what I use Facebook for.

For conclusion--you're not "overthinking" the issue. You're just using common sense and being careful. Like I said earlier--you use Facebook the way you feel comfortable. You set your privacy settings according to your needs and accept friend request (or decline them) as you see fit--according to your own guidelines.

Cheers!