How To Add Someone As A Mutual Friend On Facebook

Chapter iv. Finding and Adding Friends

In real life, your social network consists not merely of people who piece of work or study where you practice, merely likewise of people you've formed one-on-ane relationships with: teachers, ex-sisters-in-police, bowling buddies, and then on. It's the same with Facebook: You outset with a network of school or work buddies (run into Chapter three), and then add friends one at a time. You can also use Facebook to await upward one-time friends and find new ones.

Why would y'all want to enlarge your Facebook social circle? Well, having friends is really the whole betoken of joining Facebook. You get to swap life-in-progress tidbits (both serious and silly), share what you lot're reading, play online games…the list is countless. Only first you need to assemble your pals. Read on to acquire how.

How Facebook Friends Work

In the earth of Facebook, a friend is any Facebook member who has agreed that you 2 have something in common. Maybe you play on the same softball team, volunteer at the local animal shelter together, or proceed running into each other at parties thrown by the same ex-roommate. Peradventure you dated, took a road trip together, or y'all're 2d cousins twice removed. How y'all know a Facebook friend doesn't affair; all that matters is that you lot both agree that you lot know each other.

Annotation

Facebook has no mode of verifying the relationships between friends. Just one of the major differences betwixt Facebook and MySpace—the other large social networking site—is that Facebook strongly encourages truthfulness. So, while having a zillion "friends" is considered a status symbol on MySpace, it'south not such a large deal on Facebook—and may even prove annoying. Because Facebook lards your home folio with news of your "friends' " activities, having to weed through a bunch of news about people yous don't really know doing a bunch of things you don't really care nigh gets old quick. On Facebook, the goal is to put together a manageable list of people you actually know—and really care about keeping up with.

Two people become Facebook friends when one person extends an invitation and the other person accepts, or confirms, it. When you become friends with someone on Facebook, 3 things happen:

You lot appear on your friend'southward friend list (Viewing Your Friends) and on her profile folio (and vice versa) . On Facebook, as in life, you're known past the company you keep: Everyone with access to your friend'southward profile (or yours) tin can see the relationship between the two of you. And with the click of a mouse, folks tin hop from your friend'southward contour to yours, or from your profile to your friend's.

Notation

One of the best, most addictive things most Facebook is its confessional nature. Facebook profiles encourage members to pontificate almost subjects that don't often come up in polite conversation. So, when you're friends with someone in Facebook, yous might be surprised past the juicy details you learn about them.
Y'all can see your friend's profile (and vice versa) even if he's non in your network . This means you can see the Events he's planning to nourish, the Groups he's joined, and all the other people he's friends with, among other details. (The exception to this is if your friend has specifically blocked you from seeing certain personal details, as explained on Fighting Back.)
You receive automatic updates in your News Feed (Types of Updates) chronicling your friend'due south Facebook activities (and vice versa) .

Tip

Chapter half-dozen explains how to sign up for updates on your friends' Facebook activities and how to customize the updates your friends get about you.

Finding Friends

Before you tin can brand someone your friend, y'all offset accept to find that person on Facebook. The site gives you four different means to practice this:

You lot tin await upwardly real-life friends and acquaintances who are already Facebook members.
You lot tin invite real-life friends and acquaintances who aren't on Facebook to join the site.
You tin can search for Facebook members yous've never met but who share your interests (such equally a groundwork in server-side technology or a passion for container gardening).
You tin can scan through the potential friends Facebook suggests for you lot (based on criteria such every bit both of you going to higher at the same time and sharing a common Facebook friend).

The following sections explicate all of your options.

Finding People Who Are Facebook Members

Some of your real-life friends and acquaintances might already be on Facebook. To find them, apply 1 of the following search methods:

Search for Facebook members by name . To practice and then:
1. Start typing the person'due south name in the search box at the top of whatsoever Facebook screen .
2. If one of the profile pictures Facebook pops up looks like the person you're trying to find, bingo: You've found your pal! Simply click her moving picture to run across her profile. Otherwise, click the "Run across more results" link at the lesser of the list of suggested people.
3. On the search results page that appears, click the People link on the left-manus side to weed out extraneous results, such every bit Groups and applications that happen to contain your searchee's name . Facebook displays a list of people matching the name you typed in. If the list is gigantic, you can narrow your search using the drib-downwardly menu at the top of the list. Cull Location, Education, or Workplace from the carte du jour, and so type a location, schoolhouse, or workplace in the text box and click the Filter button.
  
  Tip
  
  In Facebook, all clickable links are blue. If one of the names y'all see in your search results (or on your Friends List, or anywhere else in Facebook) is blue, then clicking it takes you directly to that person's profile (or every bit much of the contour as the person has granted y'all admission to; encounter Controlling Who Sees Your Contour, Contact, and Friend Info).
Search for Facebook members who are classmates, ex-classmates, or coworkers . At the top right of any Facebook screen, click the Account link and, from the drib-down list, choose Edit Friends. (If yous've already added a friend or two, you need to have one extra pace at this point: Head to the left side of the page that appears and click Find Friends.) And then curlicue downward and click the Other Tools link. When you exercise, Facebook displays a listing of links customized based on the information you've provided to the site, then they'll read something like, "Discover Classmates From [your loftier schoolhouse]," "Find Classmates From [your college]," and "Observe Coworkers From [your company]".

Note

If you're new to Facebook, you'll see a "Find friends" link in the upper right of every screen, and a "Find people you know" link in the centre of your Dwelling folio (you may need to whorl downwardly a scrap to run into it). Clicking either of these links takes you directly to the Observe Friends page displaying a list of folks (along with means to organize them to quickly observe the ones yous want to befriend).

The adjacent screen that appears depends on which link you click and how many details you added to your profile. For example, if you lot already told Facebook you graduated from Arizona State University in 1990, then clicking "Notice Classmates From Arizona State University" displays a listing of members whose profiles mention that they attended ASU in 1990. If, on the other hand, you haven't added any piece of work-related details to your profile and click the "Find electric current or by coworkers" link, Facebook displays a screen you lot tin can employ to type in the company yous want.
Search for people y'all regularly email from your web-based email account . If you accept a spider web-based email accost (such as your_name@gmail.com, your_name@yahoo.com, or your_name@aol.com), yous can give Facebook your email business relationship countersign and let it scan your email address volume for matching Facebook members. Hither'southward how:

At the acme right of whatsoever Facebook screen, click Account, then choose Edit Friends; if yous already have a few Facebook friends, you lot also demand to click Detect Friends on the left side of the Friends screen. (Alternatively, you tin click the ii-headed Friend Requests icon that appears to the immediate correct of the Facebook logo in the upper left of any screen, so click the Find Your Friends link that appears.)

In the Find Your Friends Wherever They Are section of the page that appears, simply click the electronic mail service you use to go on in touch with the most pals, type in your electronic mail address (and, if prompted, your e-mail password so Facebook tin can access your electronic mail account), and then click the Find Friends button. If Facebook finds members who match the email addresses in your address book, information technology displays them; if it doesn't find any matches, it pops upwardly a bulletin box asking if y'all'd like to try a dissimilar web-based email business relationship.

Note

Keep in mind that when you enter your email account password, y'all're handing over some pretty sensitive info to Facebook. Afterwards all, that password is the virtual key to your email business relationship, your accost book, and probably a bunch of other personal goodies. While Facebook is a reputable outfit and pledges not to store your password, you lot might want to skip this step if this whole sharing business makes you queasy.
Search for people y'all regularly instant message . If you utilize an instant-messaging programme similar AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), ICQ Conversation, or Windows Live Messenger, you tin add your IM screen name and password to your profile and then tell Facebook browse your buddy list for matching Facebook members. To do so: At the top right of any Facebook screen, click the Profile link. On the left side of your contour page, click the Info link, so curlicue down and click the Edit icon side by side to the Contact Information heading. In the IM Screen Names field, blazon your screen name, and so choose your messaging service (AIM, Skype, or whatever). When you terminate, click the Save Changes button. So, at the top left of your screen, click the Friend Requests icon (the silhouette of two people), and then click the Find Your Friends link. Scroll downward the folio that appears and click your instant messaging service (you won't see it unless you lot've already added a screen proper name to your profile). Finally, type in the screen proper noun and password you utilise with your service and then click the Find Friends button. Facebook either displays matching Facebook members, or a bulletin box asking if y'all'd similar to try your search again (you don't; if Facebook didn't find any matches the first fourth dimension, it won't find whatever the second).
Search for people you regularly email using a list of contacts . Depending on the email program you lot apply, you can export a list of electronic mail addresses from the programme and permit Facebook scan the list for matching Facebook members. (If y'all use a web-based email account, run into Finding People Who Are Facebook Members instead.) To do so: On the right side of your Home page, click the "Detect your friends" link (or, alternatively, at the summit left of any screen, click the Friend Requests icon that's right next to the Facebook logo, and then click Notice Your Friends). Ringlet downwards the page that appears and click the Other Tools link, and then click the Upload Contact File link. In the section that appears, either tell Facebook to scan your Windows/Outlook/Outlook Express contacts by clicking the "Find my Windows Contacts" button, or (if you use another email programme, such equally Mozilla Thunderbird or Mac Bone X Address Book) click the "How to create a contact file…" link and so the name of the advisable email program. Then follow the instructions y'all see to create and upload an electronic mail contact file Facebook tin can read. After you finish, click Find Friends. Facebook either displays the Facebook members whose email addresses match those on your list, or a link y'all tin utilise to go technical help.
Foliage through the friend suggestions Facebook offers . Facebook uses what it knows virtually you (based on your profile and any friends you lot've added) to come with a helpful list of folks you may know: Facebook members who went to the same school at the aforementioned fourth dimension yous did, for example, or friends of people you're already friends with. These suggestions announced on the correct side of your Dwelling house page nether the People You lot May Know heading when you're new to Facebook, but you can also go to them past clicking Account at the top of any screen and selecting Edit Friends. On the left side of the screen that appears, click Find Friends, and then gyre down to the People Yous May Know section. To see more suggestions, click the More than link. To tell Facebook to stop suggesting someone you know you'd never befriend in a meg years (the ex-brother-in-law who dented your car that time and never made good, for instance), click the tiny 10 next to the person'due south proper noun.

Finding People Who Aren't Facebook Members

You can't add people to your friend list unless they're Facebook members. Just say you've got a few real-life pals you wish would sign upwardly for the site and so yous could keep in touch on more easily. Facebook gives yous an like shooting fish in a barrel way to invite these people to join:

On the right side of your Facebook Home page, notice the Go Connected section (you may have to ringlet downwardly) and click the "Invite them now" link .
On the Invite Your Friends page that appears, type in your non-Facebook-pals' email addresses in the "To:" field, separated by commas; then type in a quick message (if you lot similar) and click Invite . Facebook sends invitations to all the addresses you listed.

Finding New Friends

Dorsum in the olden days of Facebook, the site gave its members an easy fashion to connect with each other one-on-1 based on shared interests and other profile information, such as political views, hobbies, or favorite bands. You simply typed in what kind of folks you wanted to meet—for case, single moms in your expanse who like to knit—and bingo: You got an instant list of potential pals, complete with a congenital-in conversation opener.

Y'all tin can still search for kindred spirits on Facebook—subsequently all, that's one of the reasons Facebook is so popular—but to keep from becoming a giant spam free-for-all, the site has changed the way you lot search. Rather than the advanced search feature you used to use, Facebook now offers four dissimilar ways to find like-minded members:

Friend suggestions . As you but learned, Facebook suggests folks you might be interested in being friends with based on criteria such equally your profile details and the friends y'all already have. To come across these suggestions, follow the steps on Finding People Who Are Facebook Members.
Groups . If you want to meet fellow history buffs or gardeners (or folks interested in any other topic or activity), Facebook'due south old Groups are a good place to kickoff. To search through onetime Groups: At the acme of any Facebook screen, type the topic you're interested in into the Search box, and and so click the "See more results for [topic]" link that pops upward. On the left side of the search results page that appears, click the Groups link to narrow your results.

Tip

You lot tin can find out more than about Groups both old and new—including how to create a new one—in Chapter 7.
Keyword search . Searching member details for a specific phrase or keyword, wherever it appears, isn't for the fainthearted (the phrase "like looking for a needle in a haystack" comes to mind). Still, depending on what kind of topic or action you're searching for, it might yield skilful results. The more unusual the topic or activeness, the amend your chances of finding what y'all're looking for. To search member details: At the elevation of any Facebook folio, type what you lot're looking for into the Search box and then click the magnifying glass icon on the correct side of the box. On the left side of the search results page that appears, click the People link.

Tip

If you decide to conduct a keyword search, set up for a mountain of results. Also keep in mind that Facebook displays results no matter which member detail matches your keyword or what words or phrases environment information technology. For case, searching for "bears" will find both the guy who founded "Citizens Confronting Bears" and the lady who listed "The Zygote Bears" as her favorite band, among a zillion other results. To home in on Facebook members who live in a certain urban center, attend a certain school, or work at a sure visitor (based on their Facebook profiles), select Location, Workplace, or School at the height of the search results page, type in your criteria, and and then click the Filter button.
Third-party search applications . If you don't discover what (or who) you're looking for using Facebook's search feature, y'all can try a search application (see Facebook Applications: An Overview for the scoop on Facebook applications). To find a search application: At the top of any Facebook screen, blazon search in the Search field, click the magnifying glass icon, so click the Apps link on the left side of the screen that appears.

Note

Facebook applications vary in quality, and they all look and work a little differently. So after you notice 1 you think looks interesting, you'll want to spend a couple minutes checking out its reviews and playing with information technology to see if it works for y'all. To larn more than most Facebook applications, flip to Chapter 13.

Inviting People to Be Your Friend

You tin can't just add together people to your friend list willy-nilly; they accept to be Facebook members and agree to be added. (Finding People Who Aren't Facebook Members explains how to invite non-Facebook members to join the site.) To invite a Facebook member to be your friend:

Search for the person you lot want to befriend (see Finding New Friends) .

Annotation

If you ship a friend request to someone who can't commonly see your profile—she'south not in your network, for example—Facebook temporarily grants that person access to the bones, work-related, and pedagogy-related portions of your profile (Viewing Your Contour) then she can brand an informed decision about whether or non to accept your invitation.
If your search returns the person y'all're looking for, click the "Add as Friend" button y'all encounter to the right of the person'southward profile picture . Alternatively, click the person's name or film to read a flake more than most her and then, at the top of the potential friend's profile page, click the "Add as Friend" button. If you don't find the person you're looking for, you tin can invite her to bring together Facebook (Finding People Who Aren't Facebook Members).

Note

If you don't encounter the "Add equally Friend" button, it's because the person y'all're trying to befriend has adjusted her privacy settings to block friend requests (see Affiliate 14 for details).
Fill out the confirmation box that appears and so click Ship Request . In the confirmation box, Facebook gives you the option of including a note along with your asking; only click the "Add together a personal message" link. You may as well see a couple of other options: If you've created any Friend Lists (Organizing Your Friends), you tin can click the "Add to List" button to add the person to a Friend List (assuming she accepts your asking). And if you've activated your cellphone with Facebook (see Setting Upward Facebook Mobile), yous can plow on the "Subscribe via SMS" checkbox to have that person's posts sent to your phone.

After you lot click Transport Asking, you lot see a Friend Request Sent dialog box that lets you know Facebook has sent an invitation to your would-be friend'south email address and posted a friend request to her Facebook Habitation page (Viewing Your Facebook Home Page).

Annotation

If y'all're new to Facebook, the Friend Asking Sent dialog box may include friend suggestions (friends of your soon-to-be-friend) for y'all to consider. Click "Add as Friend" if you're interested, or Close if you're not.

Note

If the person y'all're extending the virtual hand of friendship to is make-new to Facebook, later you send the friend asking, Facebook displays a listing of your current friends—simply in case you want to ask them to join y'all in extending their virtual hands.

While you're waiting to hear back from your friend, a "Friend Requested" button replaces the usual "Add as Friend" push next to her proper name in your search results, and when you visit her profile, yous see an "Awaiting friend confirmation" label next to her proper name. If your friend agrees to the friendship and responds either to the e-mail or the Facebook asking (Finding People Who Are Facebook Members), Facebook adds your name to her friend list, and her name to yours. Facebook besides sends you a Notification (meet Customizing Your Mini Feed) letting you know that she confirmed the friendship.

Notation

In its quest to support polite social interactions, Facebook doesn't give members a way to explicitly refuse friend invitations, but they tin ignore them. If you've sent an invitation and haven't heard back afterward a few days, try sending the person a message or poking him (Poking). Yet no answer? Sorry—y'all've been snubbed.

Responding to Friend Requests

When someone tries to add together you lot to her friend list, 2 things happen: Facebook sends y'all an email invitation and posts a fiddling notice on your Home page telling y'all that someone wants to exist your friend. At that indicate, you've got two choices: You tin confirm the request or ignore information technology, either on Facebook or right in your email program.

Confirming E-mail Requests

If you're the type of person who checks his email every 60 minutes (or every 5 minutes) merely only logs onto Facebook every couple of days, you'll want to handle friend requests from inside your email program. Hither'due south how:

Look in your email inbox for a message with the bailiwick "[Somebody] wants to exist friends on Facebook."
Open the message and click the green Confirm Friend push button or the confirmation link . Doing so whisks yous to the Facebook page where you lot can confirm your friendship as explained in the next section.

Confirming Requests in Facebook

Some people log into Facebook whenever they're in front of a estimator. If you lot're i of them, information technology'southward easier to respond to friend requests from your Facebook Home folio than to fire upwards your email programme and wade through your inbox looking for invitations. To confirm a friend request from within Facebook:

At the top of any Facebook page, click the Friend Requests icon just to the right of the word "facebook" . The icon looks like the heads and shoulders of ii little people (hover your cursor over the icons to come across what each one is chosen). Above information technology, you'll see a scarlet icon indicating how many friend requests you lot have. When you lot click information technology, Facebook takes you to the Ostend Requests page.

Note

Friend requests also appear on the upper-right side of your Home page nether Requests. (If you lot don't have any friend requests, y'all won't see any listed under Requests.) Simply click the "friend request(south)" link there to view them.
Make sure yous want to accept the request, and then click Ostend . Later y'all click Confirm, you're Facebook friends with that person. Like shooting fish in a barrel, huh?

Note

If y'all've never heard of the person who sent you lot the friend asking, the bulletin he sent doesn't make sense, or the ii of yous have no friends in common, so yous probably desire to click the person's name and check out his profile (and possibly send him a "Practice I know y'all?" message by clicking the Send Message link that appears beneath his profile picture) to make sure the asking is on the up-and-up.

Tip

To see what friends y'all and your new friend accept in common, Facebook lets you know by displaying a "[number] mutual friend(s)" link after the person'due south name on the Confirm Requests page. Just click this link or, on the right side of her contour page, click the Mutual Friends link to run into the acquaintances you share.

Ignoring a Friend Request

In Facebook equally in life, in that location will exist times when someone extends the hand of friendship and you lot merely don't want to shake it. Later all, confirming a friend asking doesn't only give your new pal (and all the Facebook applications he uses; see Finding Applications) access to a big clamper of your personal life; it also lets the world know that you call back plenty of the guy to declare yourself his friend. If you go a friend request from someone you lot've never heard of, say, or whose contour paints a picture so creepy you lot desire to lock your virtual door, all you accept to do is quietly remove all traces of the asking and get on with your life. To exercise so:

Sign into Facebook (Viewing Your Facebook Dwelling Page) if you're not already in that location .
At the top of whatever Facebook page, click the Friend Requests icon merely to the right of the word "facebook" .
On the screen that appears, click Not Now . That's all you have to do: Facebook instantly removes the red number above the Friend Requests icon on your Home folio.

Note

The guy who sent the invitation won't be notified that y'all've officially ignored him; he just won't receive a confirmation that yous're friends.
Back in your e-mail plan, delete the friend-request email .

Note

If you say "not now" to a friend request and so discover yourself reconsidering later, no sweat—you can still accept the asking. To do and then, at the top of whatever Facebook folio, click the Friend Requests icon; and then click Encounter All Friend Requests. On the Requests page that appears, click the See Hidden Requests link. Subsequently you practise, Facebook gives you lot the adventure to confirm the asking, or delete it for expert.

Viewing Your Friends

Facebook automatically displays 10 randomly selected friends on the left side of your profile (you may need to curlicue down to encounter it).

To run into more than these ten friends—or to encounter more details about each of your friends—you've got a few options. Yous can:

Come across all of your friends in one fell swoop . To practise and then:
- On your profile page, click the Friends link that appears above the 10 random friends.
- At the summit right of whatsoever Facebook screen, click the word Account, and then click Edit Friends. On the Friends page that appears, click the Recently Interacted button and, from the drop-downwardly listing, choose All Friends.
  
  Tip
  
  The beauty and fun of Facebook lies in its who-knows-who connections, and the site makes information technology easy to play matchmaker. To suggest that a Facebook friend consider friending another of your pals: On one friend's contour page, scroll downward until you see the Suggest Friends link on the left side of the folio. Click the link so, in the dialog box that appears, click to plow on the checkbox next to as many of your other pals as y'all like. When you finish, click Transport Suggestions.
- Run across friends who are online right this minute . At the bottom correct of whatever Facebook screen, the number that appears to the right of the word "Chat" tells y'all how many of your Facebook friends are currently logged into the site. (The discussion "Offline" may announced instead of a number.) Click the Chat link and a window pops up showing you exactly which of your friends are currently logged into Facebook.
  
  Tip
  
  To send a existent-time conversation message to a friend, in the Conversation window, simply click the name of the person yous desire to chat with. A green dot means the friend is actively using the site (and then is probably going to see your message); a half-moon shape means the friend is logged into Facebook only hasn't done anything on the site for 10 minutes (and so may exist out on a doughnut run). See Chatting for details on chatting.
- See your friends organized by whether you know them from college, work, your surface area, or a common passion . At the top right of whatsoever Facebook screen, click the give-and-take Account, and so click Edit Friends. On the Friends page that appears, click the Recently Interacted button and, from the drop-downwards card, choose Search past Electric current City or Hometown (to see friends grouped by where they live at present or used to live), Schoolhouse (to meet friends who belong to higher networks), Workplace (to run into friends who vest to piece of work-related networks), or Interest (to encounter friends who listed Chihuahuas, chili cook-offs, or some other interest on their profiles). If you've joined a network (Changing Account Info), the network's name appears in the drop-down menu, too; click information technology to show only those friends who vest to the same network.

Note

When yous choose Search by Current Metropolis, Hometown, Schoolhouse, Workplace, or Interest, Facebook displays a text field you can use to signal which particular city, school, company, or hobby y'all're interested in grouping your friends by.

Note

A absurd new feature called Friendship Pages lets y'all wait at the history of whatsoever Facebook friendship: posts you and a friend accept written on each others' Walls over the years, Events you attended together, photos yous both appear in, and so on. To take a trip down memory lane, caput to any friend's profile page and click the See Friendship link on the right side of the page. (On your News Feed, clicking the See Friendship link that appears in some news items lets y'all view Friendship Pages chronicling other folks' relationships.)

Organizing Your Friends

The options Facebook gives you for viewing your friends are great if you accept only a handful of pals. But if you're a hardcore social butterfly with dozens or even hundreds of friends, you'll want to organize them into carve up lists that reflect how you categorize them in your listen.

For instance, imagine that in addition to your workplace network, you're involved in a book order, a softball league, and a 12-step program. Creating a split up list for each group of people lets you keep track of your different social circles at a glance. And because Facebook lets you send the same message to all the friends on a unmarried list all at one time (see Viewing a Friend List), control how much news virtually the list you want to encounter on your News Feed (Chapter six), and even invite everyone on the list to bring together the same Group (Affiliate 7) or Event (Chapter 8), creating separate Friend Lists helps y'all communicate with folks apace and reduces the gamble of having your worlds collide.

Note

Friend Lists are for your eyes only—your friends never see which lists, if any, you lot've added them to.

Creating a Friend List

Facebook lets you lot create up to 100 different Friend Lists, each of which can contain up to one,000 names. (Of course, unless y'all're a politician, you probably won't need anywhere near that many.) Hither'southward how to create one:

At the top right of whatsoever Facebook page, click the Business relationship link, and and then click Edit Friends .
On the Friends page that appears, click the "Create a List" button .
In the "Enter a Proper noun" field of the box that appears, type a name for your list then striking Enter . In the following example, the list's name is "out-of-town family".
Add some friends to your list . The easiest way is to click the thumbnail pictures of the people y'all want to add to your list. (Clicking a thumbnail once turns it blueish to allow you know you've selected information technology; clicking over again deselects it.) Alternatively, you can click the "Commencement Typing a Proper name" field and type in names i at a time.
When you stop, click the Create List push button . Your newly created list appears on the Friends page (click Account, then Edit Friends to get there) below the Lists heading. It also appears on your Home page (How Facebook Works) when you click the Friends link on the left-hand side of the screen. When y'all view thumbnail pictures of any of the friends you've added to the list, the list's name appears next to those people'south names.

Tip

You tin can add the same person to multiple Friend Lists.

Viewing a Friend List

To see all the people on a particular Friend List:

At the top correct of any Facebook screen, click the Business relationship link and then click Edit Friends .
On the left side of the Friends page that appears, click the proper name of the Friend List you desire to view . Facebook displays the names and profile pictures of the friends y'all've added to that listing.

If you want to encounter what anybody on a particular Friend List has been up to lately, head to your Abode page by clicking the word "facebook" or "Home" at the meridian of any screen. On the left side of the screen, click the Friends link, and then click the name of the list you lot desire to see. (If you take a lot of Friend Lists, you may need to click the More link to see them all.) Facebook shows y'all those friends' recent activities.

Editing a Friend List

Online or off, social circles and friendships modify over time. Later on you've created a Friend List (Organizing Your Friends), you tin can modify its name, add together people to it, or delete folks from it.

To rename a list:

Go to the left side of your Abode page and click the Friends link . Facebook displays all your Friend Lists below the Friends link.
Click the proper name of the list yous want to change .
On the page that appears, click the Edit List button .
In the dialog box that pops up, click the Edit link and and so make your changes. When you stop, click the Salve List button .

Note

Alternatively, you can change the name of a Friend List past clicking the Business relationship link at the top of whatever Facebook screen and and then clicking Edit Friends. On the left side of the folio that appears, click the proper noun of the listing yous want to rename and and so, at the tiptop of the screen, click the Edit Name link and then follow step 4 above.

To add friends to an existing list:

At the top left of any Facebook page, click the Business relationship link and so click Edit Friends .
On the left side of the screen that appears, click the name of the listing you want to add together friends to .
Type someone's name into the "Blazon a friend's name to add" field (Facebook pops up a helpful list after you brainstorm typing) . Alternatively, if you spot your friend'due south name in the Suggested For This Listing section on the right side of the listing page, click the plus sign that appears next to that friend's name.

Tip

To add together a handful of friends to an existing list quickly, click the Add together Multiple button that appears on the list page. In the dialog box that appears, ringlet to browse through all your pals, clicking each Facebook friend y'all want to add together to your list. When you finish, click Salvage List.

To delete friends from a list, follow the steps for adding a friend to an existing listing; but in stride 3, instead of typing a new proper noun, mouse over the proper name of one of the folks already listed and and then click the Edit Lists button that appears. Finally, on the drop-downwardly list that appears, click the proper noun of the listing y'all want to delete the friend from (information technology has a checkmark next to it). Facebook removes the person from that list and deletes the checkmark.

Tip

To delete a slew of friends from a list quickly: At the pinnacle left of any Facebook page, click the Account link and so click Edit Friends. On the left side of your Friends page, click the name of the listing you want to sparse. On the list page that appears, click the Add Multiple button. So, in the dialog box that appears, whorl down to browse through all your pals, clicking each blue, checkmarked Facebook friend you desire to delete from your list (the checkmark disappears after you click it to let you lot know that friend is off the list). When you finish, click the Save List button.

Deleting a Friend List

Peradventure you lot created a Friend List and find yous never use it. Or maybe the number of friends on i of your Friend Lists has dwindled to nothing. Whatever your reason, deleting a Friend List is easy:

View the list you want to delete (Creating a Friend List) .
Head to the lesser of the list and click the Delete List link . In the confirmation box that appears, click Confirm.

Breaking Up: Unfriending Friends

Breaking upwards is never easy, but sometimes you lot simply gotta do information technology. Say ane of your Facebook friends stabs you in the electronic back by posting inappropriate stuff on your Wall or spamming all your other friends, and yous actually have no selection only to cutting him loose. To remove someone from your collection of Facebook friends:

At the top right of any Facebook folio, click the Account link and then click Edit Friends .
On the folio that appears, click the Recently Interacted push button and, from the drib-downwardly listing that appears, choose All Friends .
Gyre to the name of the person yous want to "unfriend," and and so click the Ten that appears to the right of his name .
In the confirmation box that appears, click "Remove from Friends." You're friends no more.

Tip

Alternatively, if you're on someone'south profile page, scroll down the screen until you spot the Unfriend link on the left side, and then click it.

Notation

Unlike quietly ignoring a friend request, unfriending someone sends a clear message. Because Facebook friendship is reciprocal, removing a friend means you disappear from your former friend's All Friends list—an unmistakable rebuff.