Friends can come through for us in many ways. During times of hardships, like grief or loss, we can count on a few loyal friends to help us get past them or just be there to hold our hands and assure that things are going to be okay. You can tell from these remarks that, like close relatives, friends are very essential in our lives.

During college, we get to meet many different people to interact with regularly. But after the education is finished most people find it hard to make new friends in real life. However, another possible way you may be overlooking is meeting new people and friends through social media chatting platforms like Livebeam, which can help you meet new people that will leave you positively beaming!

🫂 In this article we would like to share with you some ideas you can use to create life-long friendships:

1. Be Open

Always try to be open to connection. Whenever your friend calls, answer them, and if you get a message, call back. If you are chatting with them on Livebeam or any other communication platform, try to respond faster and reasonably. If they invite you over for a party or anything, accept the invitation. Creating a lasting connection usually takes time and energy. But having supportive people around is always worth it.

When you are able to, try to spare time and say “yes” to your connections. If you have a lot on your plate and sometimes find yourself saying“no“ to invitations from friends, you can check your priorities, and get some space for people you care about.

2. Try to connect and reach out more often

Try to reach out to all your connections, you can even do this by creating a schedule for every connection, so you can reach out to them more. The only downside to  this approach is you cannot expect anything in return. If you are giving something with expectations of getting something, you may end up being disappointed. Don’t do things with strings attached, invite people or get in touch without much expectations.

3. Offer Gifts

Going an extra mile can really help create a strong bond in your relationship. Some people see gifts as a way of showing love and affection. The gift may be simple but it will still count.

If you are living far away, sending a package is a nice way of connecting. If you are going  for dinner, you can carry some flowers with you. If you are invited to a birthday party, take a present. When you are generous and thoughtful with your friends, they will always want to be around you.

4. Be Curious

Being a curious and attentive person is the foundation of any good friendship. If you are the type of person that likes focusing or talking so much about themselves, you may need to switch that so that connections in your life can become equal and more of a partnership, where you all give each other mutual support.

You can ask questions about the lives of your friends, their struggles, dreams and goals. Don’t try to fix your friends’ problems on their behalf, instead be a good listener and let them go through the process of figuring things out on their own.

5. Share your feelings

Social media platforms are made to help people share their ideas and feelings. If you are going through something, sharing it with a friend will create a strong bond and a healthy friendship. If you are too shy to explain to your friends what is going on in your life, you may not allow your friendship to become stronger and mature to the next level.

You need to be brave and willing to take risks for your friendship. Fostering a deeper and lasting connection requires us to be able to share how we truly feel to our close friends. If your friend is not keen on sharing your deep thoughts with them, it does not mean they are not keen on your friendship. However, a true friend will try to be there with you and feel more attached when you tell them the truth about how you really feel.

6. Give a hug

A physical touch is great and most people can’t just have enough snuggles and hugs. But also, not everyone is a hugger. If you are a hugger, you can find people like you who also enjoy hugging. It is easy to open your arms and hug your friend before they leave, isn’t it?

It is hard to find people who can’t hug when it is offered to them. Hugging is a nice way of meeting your physical touch. However, hugs in inappropriate situations can also put someone off, so it is good to understand the acceptable limits.

On platforms like Livebeam, Facebook and others you can share smiley emojis and heart stickers to show people that you really appreciate them.

1. Be thankful and offer compliments

Being thankful and offering compliments enables you to share your feelings and strengthen your connections with every person in your life. “I like that hairstyle” is definitely something nice to say, but not as impactful. On the other hand if you say something like, “I really appreciated that you asked me for dinner” or “I love studying with you”. That is impactful.

2. Offer a service

This you can do by helping out, doing the dishes, getting something from the store or fixing a leaking tap. You also need to see what other people do for you as an act of kindness and love and notice how much loved and appreciated you are. When someone says thanks, you can try to fully receive their gratitude without minimizing the contribution you’ve made.

3. Talk through any misunderstandings

If there is something wrong, you will need to talk about it with your friend. If there has been some kind of miscommunication, you can try bringing them up and finding a solution to the problem. You may need some communication skills to do this. You also need communication skills to be able to reach out to new people on chat platforms like Livebeam.

Join now and start communication genuinely!