Have you been looking to make some new friends? Have you had problems initiating communication? Building a friendship is not rocket science. In fact, we can say it’s quite easy. It all depends on your dedication to doing it the right way.
The basics of starting a friendship from scratch involve 2 major stages:
- Initiating the friendship
- Maintaining the friendship
Livebeam is here to put you on the right path. With Livebeam’s experience in online communication, we have come up with the actions necessary to achieve these 2 major stages.
This article is brought to you by Livebeam and covers 6 basic step-by-step processes to building a long-term friendship, all under the 2 umbrellas of initiating and maintaining it. Let’s get into it!
Consider that we are not health professionals and are only talking from our own experience or the research.
3 Main Steps to Starting a Friendship
1. Learn About Them
Friendship is a deep connection. You have to earn the tag “friend”. A friend means more, it means you trust the person, you have experiences with the person, and most importantly it means you know the person.
The first step to becoming someone’s friend is to know the person.
This will require zeal on your part. Right from the introduction, you should take every opportunity to learn something new about the person. Obviously, the first thing is the name. From there, you work your way to getting general details, and afterward, you move to specifics.
This learning process further increases the bond you are trying to build. Livebeam has helped make this stage a lot easier with the profile section. You can check a person’s profile and obtain a lot of information about what they do, what they’re interested in, and some of their preferences. However, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t dig deeper.
Your interest is one thing that helps solidify the friendship. Livebeam users are quite engaging, they would answer your questions, so why not just go ahead and ask away? Learn every necessary detail about the person, and in a few weeks, you’ll know a lot to consider yourself a friend.
2. Find Common Interests
The next step after getting to know your new acquaintance is to find common interests. This is what keeps people in conversation and in sync. Most engaging conversations involve topics that both parties can thrive in. As stated earlier, you can get some of these mutual interests by going through one’s Livebeam profile. However, there are other ways.
Asking questions is one of the best ways to carve out common interests. By enquiring about the day-to-day activities and fun moments of a person, you begin to say what makes them happy. In the thick of your inquiry, you will obtain details about those activities you share or both take interest in.
We have to place emphasis on common interests because they help form the foundation for lots of conversations.
These are the topics you know you can fall back on when there’s nothing to talk about or you need to lighten up the mood. Once your communication begins to have a lot of these topics, you begin to consider yourself a friend.
3. Don’t Rush Things
Once you’ve secured your friendship through knowledge and common interests, you have to prepare for the possible bumps in the road. Take this as the caution segment of starting a friendship. Without reality, your new friendship would be more vulnerable to rough patches.
The last part of starting a wholesome friendship is to not get ahead of yourself.
So, now you know the person, you have a lot of things you both can discuss, and you chat well. The first 2 steps are really easy to achieve on Livebeam, but this 3rd one depends on you. It involves taking things as they come and relearning what you thought you already knew.
Things will change, sometimes the person could become less available or less responsive. Sometimes, it could even be the opposite. Having your mind prepared for these imbalances in levels will complete the creation of this friendship. A friend needs to understand that there will be ups and downs, but be assured that nothing will faze the friendship that has been built.
With that level of understanding and maturity, you have successfully created a working friendship. Now, you need to know how to maintain it.
2 Steps towards Maintaining a Friendship
4. Check-in On Them
As much as Livebeam is available for use and you both have an account, you do not expect everyone to have the luxury of time to always be online. As a friend, you should understand this.
If you consider yourself a friend then you must make sure your friends are doing fine.
You should not make the mistake of thinking that your busy friend has no use for you. Checking on them often will help show your worth as a reliable friend. Get to know if what is keeping them busy is not becoming too much of a burden, and let them know you are there for them.
This step keeps you unforgettable and also puts you in their hearts. Some friends do not send messages unless it’s an event like a birthday or the purchase of a new house – this is wrong. You should be there for someone at times when it feels like nobody should be – that is true friendship.
5. Be Available to Help
Checking up on your friend is different from being available. The difference is in the initiator. When checking up, you are the initiator who tries to find out how their friend is doing and what has been going on in their lives. Being available, however, is initiated by the friend when they need your help.
A friend in need is a friend indeed
The statement above is where being available comes essential. For you to truly be a friend, you need to come through for them in their times of need. This could involve:
- Being online when they want to chat
- Being present at important events like graduations, weddings, and birthday parties
- Having stuff they need to borrow.
Some friendships made on Livebeam have gone on to seem more like families. This is because the community is highly united. You can find that special friend who will always be there and come through for you anytime you want on Livebeam, you just have to learn to give back the same energy.
After carefully following these steps, you will build one of the most satisfactory friendships you will ever have, both online (on Livebeam) or offline.
Also read: 100 Best Friendship Quotes for Best Friend
