How Teens Find Friends on Facebook

Once your child is a teen -- age 13 or older -- he can use Facebook. Children under 13 are not allowed to use social networking sites or other sites on the Internet without parental permission, because of the Children̵7;s Online Privacy and Protection Act. Social networking websites like Facebook give users the ability to contact, and for other Facebook users to contact other Facebook users from practically anywhere in the world. For parents, this can be worrisome. Since strangers can contact your teen on Facebook, it is important to speak to your teen about the importance of ̶0;friending̶1; only people your teen knows in real life. Keeping your teen safe begins with speaking openly about how your teen is finding new friends on Facebook.

  1. Direct Searching

    • Once your child is logged into her Facebook account, she can search for friends directly by typing the names of people she knows into the search bar at the top of the page. This will bring up the name of the friend for whom your teen is searching, if that friend has a Facebook account. This search will also bring up the names of people who have the same name as the friend for whom your teen is searching. Information like a profile picture, location, school attended or home town will help your teen find the friend for whom your teen is looking. Your teen can then send a friend request to each friend she locates.

    Importing Contacts

    • Facebook offers a feature in which your teen can use his login credentials from his email account to check if any of those contacts are on Facebook. These results are limited to the contacts your teen has in his email address book.

    Friends of Friends

    • Once your teen has Facebook friends, whether your teen has one Facebook friend or 500, she will be able to browse through the Facebook profiles of people who are friends with her Facebook friends. This is a great way to find mutual friends. While most of these people are likely other students, family members, neighbors, acquaintances or other people your teen̵7;s Facebook friend knows in real life, some of these people might be strangers. Your teen can scroll through each of her Facebook friend's friends lists to see if she knows anyone on the list or would like to know anyone on the list, and then send them a friend request, if she wishes.

    "People You Might Know"

    • Once your teen is logged in, she will see a "Friends You May Know" listing to the right of the Facebook homepage. These friendship suggestions are people who may have mutual friends with your teen's Facebook friends. As with other ways of finding Facebook friends, your teen should always be careful and only offer a ̶0;friend request̶1; or accept a ̶0;friend request̶1; to people your teen actually knows in real life. Your teen should never ̶0;friend̶1; or accept ̶0;friend requests̶1; from a stranger.

    Receiving Requests

    • In addition to sending out requests, your teen can also receive friend requests from other people on Facebook who are using these other methods. Your teen might show up as a friend of a friend to someone else, or someone may find him by seeing a post or comment he made on another page. Your teen should never send a "friend" request or accept a "friend" request from someone your teen does not know and trust in real life.

    Safety

    • In addition to never ̶0;friending̶1; or accepting ̶0;friend requests̶1; from people your teen does not know in real life, your teen should never post status updates or comment on other friend̵7;s status updates that will reveal your teen̵7;s location. Your teen should never write, ̶0;Hi! I̵7;m at home now at 123 Main Street!̶1; Or, ̶0;I̵7;m at the department store on the corner of 34th and Broadway.̶1; Your teen should also know that any photos your teen posts on her on her profile might also be used in advertisements that Facebook creates, known as sponsored stories.

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