How do I invite a friend to join me on Facebook?

I want to start getting into the habit of inviting people I meet at conferences to join me on Facebook. Is there an easy way to do that?

Dave's Answer:

That's a superb strategy. Let me say that first off. In fact, my approach to meeting people is a slight variation on that: I use LinkedIn to memorialize the connections I make at conferences, workshops and seminars. My logic is two-fold. First, it helps me remember who I met and gains me some level of access to their network of friends and colleagues, and second, it also demonstrates to them that I walk my talk: that I really do put a lot of effort into social networking. As my Mum would say, the proof's in the pudding, though I'm not really entirely sure what that means!

Like most of the big social networks now, Facebook makes it pretty darn easy to invite someone to join you or connect to you or link to you (pick your favorite metaphor).

Log in to your Facebook account, then choose Invite Friends from the Friends menu on the top of the page:

At this point, you get to a very simple and straightforward friend invitation entry box:

Facebook: Invite Friends: Invitation Compose Window

As you can see, I filled in a personal message to Greg Cohn, a colleague at Yahoo with whom I hope to soon have a connection on Facebook. You don't have to put in a personal message but I can't emphasize enough that invitations with personal messages are far more likely to be successful. I think this is even doubly-so after a major conference like Blogworld Expo or similar since they might be inundated with invitations. If they don't know who you are, they might just axe your invite.

Click "Invite" when you're ready and you'll get a quick confirmation:

As you can see - and as is no surprise at all - Greg is already on Facebook. That's okay, the invitation magically turns into a "let's connect" rather than a "you should join Facebook to connect" invitation.

That's all there is to it.

Want to learn more about Facebook? I have lots of Facebook Help here, and you can also find me on Facebook too (and practice sending invitations by sending me a personalized invite if you'd like.

That's not all! I also have a Facebook Fan Page that I invite you to join too!

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Categorized: Facebook Help (Article 8122, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: facebook, linkedin, social networking
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Reader Comments To Date: 23

jeffrey said, on June 12, 2008 3:11 PM:

"the proof's in the pudding" is shortened from "the proof of the pudding is in the eating" :-)

Gail Page said, on February 26, 2009 6:26 PM:

I want to invite a friend that I could see is on facebook but I don't have their email address. I tried just to invite a friend but it wants me to type a code in. I don't have a code and can't see the code to type in

Naagii said, on September 19, 2009 4:23 AM:

Hi i'm 16 years old

Salah said, on January 10, 2010 2:12 PM:

Hi

Wendee Holtcamp said, on March 10, 2010 8:14 AM:

Since they changed Facebook, there isn't a Friends menu and I can't figure out how to invite friends. Would you be willing to reply to this comment to tell me if you've figured out how to invite new people via their email address like we use dto be able to do?

old school said, on March 10, 2010 8:41 PM:

This info is for the old interface. Please could you update it to the new one?

awolesi said, on April 13, 2010 11:47 AM:

i log in to facebook and it reply that another person has use my mail am just tried pls help me do itb am expecting

vatlab said, on June 6, 2010 12:37 PM:

Here is an invite control for Facebook iFrame applications and Facebook Connect web sites. Implementaition is for ASP.NET in C# and VB.NET:
http://vatlab.com/asp-net-facebook-controls/invite-friends

Ted said, on March 21, 2011 11:17 PM:

You need to update your answer - you now need to click on Friends - then edit friends - then invite a freind. And the photos of the views also need to be updated.

Lesley said, on May 3, 2011 10:20 AM:

How do I join up my husband on facebook when he has the same email address as me?

Dave Taylor said, on May 3, 2011 11:40 AM:

Lesley, sorry to report that you need a different address for your husband so you can sign up for different accounts on Facebook. Check out Yahoo.com or Gmail.com - both are free.

Johann said, on September 25, 2011 1:38 AM:

I want to invite someone as a friend and the advice that is on your link, is outdated, as the FB page looks totally different now.
How do I invite someone? Why is it so difficult? Is it because I am from the previous generation or what? It is frustrating.
Regards.
Johann de Kock.

fbinvite said, on October 21, 2011 12:59 AM:

I don't know why they removed the memu for friend's invitation. the following worked for me.
https://www.facebook.com/invite.php
(as of 2011/Oct/21)

Allen said, on October 30, 2011 9:50 AM:

One of us must be using an old version of Facebook. There are no listins at the top of the home page that match the directions in this answer. Drives me nuts when it either doesn't match the current version (and isn't deleted whent he version updates) or they start one or two menus into the steps.

Dave Taylor said, on November 7, 2011 5:57 PM:

Allen, you're right. This feature seems to have been removed from the latest version of Facebook. What I do instead now is use my shortened Facebook URL and just send a regular email instead. Don't know yours? Just go to http://www.facebook.com/username and it'll show you what you've set or, if you don't have a custom URL yet, tell you how to set it. Just be careful: you can't change it once set.

asma said, on December 19, 2011 3:02 PM:

thanks for the information you include, I'll try to invite friends myself following your steps.
yours,
18th of Dec.

Spg said, on January 24, 2012 11:32 AM:

Go to:
http://www.facebook.com/invite.php

Ian James said, on September 12, 2012 9:11 AM:

Being highly cynical about FB, I can see a reason why they've made it difficult in the new format to get to the section where you add friends. FB had (may still have) a facility where it can search your email address book and tell you which of your friends are on FB. It didn't make clear that, by default, it then sent invitations to every one of them to become your friend; and then sent them a reminder email every month. The only way to stop this (too late for the first invite though) was via the old "Invite Friends" menu, from where you could "View all invites" and then delete all of them. That's now much more difficult to find. As above, you can get to it still via https://www.facebook.com/invite.php.

Masood said, on October 28, 2012 10:27 AM:

What is the link of invite in facebook
Pleas help me!!! :|

nancy crawford said, on November 7, 2012 12:30 PM:

I deleted or blocked someone,on facebookk and now I really need him back,how do I send him a invite to be my friend on fb now?

Ron Chandler said, on February 6, 2013 8:12 AM:

Your facebook GUI does not match the current facebook app (at least not the one I have)

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Peggy Willingham said, on April 19, 2013 10:49 AM:

Please show me how to invite a friend to my FB.

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

How do I invite a friend to join me on Facebook?

Reader Comments To Date: 23

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

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