When you send out too many friend requests at once, Facebook becomes irritated. You may be barred from adding more Facebook friends if you try to expand your network too quickly. Maybe it’s happened to you before, and you’re unable to friend someone on Facebook? Innocent blunders and a lack of understanding of basic Facebook etiquette can have fatal effects. However, using our Facebook friend request management strategies, you may prevent unintended punishment, lift an existing block, and continue finding new friends.
How to Add Facebook Friends?
For those of you who aren’t very familiar with Facebook, here’s a quick lesson on how to add friends. Please go ahead and skip ahead for everyone else.
The Friend Requests Menu on Facebook
When you’re logged into Facebook, go to Menu (3×3 dots icon) > Friends to see your pending friend requests. Although outstanding friend requests are no longer highlighted on Facebook, you will receive a notification in your Facebook notifications.
How to Send and Cancel a Facebook Friend Request
You can also search for people you know, visit their profiles, and add them by clicking the Add Friend button next to the Message button if they allow friend requests from the public or friends of friends.
On a person’s profile page, there is a Facebook Add Friend button.
Return to their profile and click the same button, which now says Cancel Request, to cancel a friend request. You can also delete a friend from your list of friends. If you remove someone from Facebook, they will not be notified. Third-party tools, on the other hand, can track your Facebook friends and send you notifications when they unfriend you. Who Deleted Me is an example of such a tool.
Unfriending vs. Unfollowing
Instead of unfriending people who spam your News Feed with irrelevant posts, try unfollowing them. This way, you may keep your digital sanity without jeopardizing a real-life friendship. Read our primer on Facebook following and unfollowing for more information. Find a post from your overactive buddy in your Feed (Home), expand the post menu with the arrowhead in the top right, and click Unfollow. You can also snooze their messages for 30 days if you think the hyperactivity is merely temporary.
Facebook’s Unwritten Friend Request Rules
Let’s go over some of the finer points of managing Facebook friend requests now that you know the basics of how to add friends on Facebook.
1. Only add people you’re familiar with.
You can only add people you know in real life to Facebook. If your friend requests go unanswered repeatedly, or even if only one person reports your request as undesired, Facebook may determine that you are sending friend requests that are against its Community Standards. To put it another way, don’t make your account look like a phoney one, don’t add random strangers, and don’t be a stranger yourself.
2. Add Friends Cautiously
Even if you don’t have any mutual Facebook friends, you’ll typically want to add a new friend right away. It may also be more awkward to send a message before adding them directly. That’s great. Just make sure you don’t add too many people who don’t have any mutual friends all at once just to broaden your Facebook reach. If you don’t know someone but want to see what they’re up to on Facebook, and there’s an option to follow them, go with that. Select Follow from the three-dot menu on their profile. This lets you to view what they are up to, but your timeline is not shared with them.
3. Report Friend Requests that are Spammy
Facebook guarantees that the sender will not be notified if you delete a friend request. But they might send you a new request. If you can’t get rid of them, you can use either the Find support or report offline or Block options, available under the three-dot menu, to prohibit subsequent friend requests from that person.
4. Go over the friend requests you’ve sent.
5. Don’t Accept Strangers’ Friend Requests
6. Make Your Friend List Invisible
Allowing everyone to see who you’ve friended could make some people jealous, resulting in unwanted friend requests for your buddies. It’s best to limit who can view your Friends list and activity with your friends.
Why can’t I add someone as a Facebook friend?
Here are the most common reasons why you can’t seem to friend someone on Facebook…
1. You Unsuccessfully Sent a Friend Request
You’ve already sent a friend request, which is either currently processing or has been deleted by the receiver. You can’t send a new friend request since the Add Friend button is no longer visible. If your request was rejected, you will be unable to send that person another friend request for a year. Asking the other person to send you a friend request is the only way to get around this. If your request is still waiting (see “Review Friend Requests You Have Sent” above), you could send a message to your soon-to-be friend, asking them to approve it.
2. You were the one who blocked the other person.
You can’t add someone you’ve blocked as a friend. Attempt to unblock them before submitting a new friend request.
3. They Don’t Allow Strangers to Make Friend Requests
As previously stated, you can limit who can send you a friend request on Facebook. If you can’t friend someone because of this, ask them to send you a friend request instead.
4. Someone already has too many friends
You and your soon-to-be acquaintance are both limited to 5,000 pals. You won’t be able to send each other friend requests if one of you has exceeded that limit. Consider turning your account into a Facebook Page if you have too many friends.
5. You Can’t Send Friend Requests on Facebook
This can happen if you submit too many friend requests at once, if you have a lot of unanswered friend requests, or if a lot of users designate your requests as spam.
Take Control of Your Facebook Friendships
Facebook friend requests are still weird. Everyone is a “friend” on Facebook, whether it’s your best friend, someone you know from school, your mother, or your job. Facebook, on the other hand, recognizes different levels of friendship. After all, you can categories your friends as close friends, relatives, acquaintances, or any other list you like.
