Sometimes, people won’t accept friend requests from people they don’t know, even if you have friends in common. If you don’t hear from them, don’t be offended. You can try asking your mutual friends about that person to see if you can all hang out together at some point. If you’ve met them in person, try to send them a friend request within 1-2 days so they remember who you are.

Don’t like more than 2-3 statuses or photos at once, since this can flood their phone with notifications and make you seem annoying. You can like a recent post as soon as you become friends with someone, which will let them know that you looked at their profile and enjoy their posts.

For instance, if they post a picture of their food, you can say something like, “Wow! That looks so yummy!” If they post a life update, like a move or a new job, feel free to comment with a “Congratulations” or “Good luck!”

Try not to tag people who you’ve never met in real life or who you don’t know very well. This can come off as annoying or even creepy if you’ve never really had a conversation.

As a general rule, try not to make comments about their appearance, as this can be embarrassing. Instead, focus on being kind and friendly so that you can eventually send them a message to continue the conversation.

For instance, if they posted pictures from their vacation, you could say something like, “Hey! I saw you posted a picture from Miami. I was just there! What was the best part of your trip?” If they post pictures or share articles about a show or movie that you watch, you could say something like, “Hi! I really enjoyed that article about the new Star Wars movie that you shared. Do you think the next movie is going to be as good as the last one?”

For example, if you see they’ve posted pictures from a recent trip to Europe, you can say, “I’ve never been to Europe but I definitely want to go some day! What was your favorite part of your trip?” If they post about sports, you could say something like, “I’m not a huge fan of football, but maybe I need to watch more! What’s your favorite team in the NFL?”

For example, if they send you a funny picture, instead of just responding with “LOL,” you can say, “That’s so funny! Do you follow any funny accounts on Instagram? I’ve been looking for new ones!” If they ask a yes or no question, you can respond with your answer, and then ask their opinion. For example, if they ask if you like baseball you could say, “Yeah, I’ve been to a few games this year. What about you?”

This also means that you can take your time thinking of a thoughtful response to keep the conversation going instead of just replying with one word answers.

For example, you can say, “I was thinking about going to see that new movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio this weekend, would you want to come with me?” For something more casual, you might say, “Want to meet for coffee sometime this week so we can actually talk in person?”

If you’re talking to someone on Facebook who you don’t know, ask them to video call with you to ensure that they are who they say they are. Even if someone looks like their profile picture, they might not have good intentions when they talk to you.

If you like or comment on a post, wait until they make a new post to comment again.

If you’re planning to meet with someone who you’ve been talking to on Facebook, remember to make your plans through messenger, which is more private than comments or wall posts.

If you don’t have any pictures of yourself, ask your friends or check their profiles to see if they have any pictures that you could use. If you’re new to Facebook, ask someone to take a picture of you and your friends or just you by yourself so that you can use it as your profile picture.

You can choose to make these options public or for friends only, depending on your preferences. Keep in mind that not everyone will have this information listed on their profile.

Remember to go through your tagged photos, as well, and untag yourself if necessary. Even though your new friends might not go through your posts, it’s still helpful to clean up your page every once and a while to make sure it still reflects who you are.

If you’re planning to add someone who you have mutual friends with, you might want to keep most of your pictures and information to “friends of friends” so that they can see you’re a real person.