Originally Posted by HalcyonDaze

Hey, I'm on thefacebook too, and I've been trying to recruit people for a monster movie club I have, so I've got a LOT of experience trying to do this. :-P

First of all, if you just randomly im people, they WILL think you're weird. I like to exchange a couple facebook messages first until they feel like they know something about me, and then im them.

Your biggest problem is that when people get messages from random people, they automatically think "what a weirdo!" So when you contact them the first time, look through their profile and find something you have in common, or that you think is cool about them, and mention that right away in your message--"Hey, I notice that you enjoy Army of Darkness--that's one of my favorite movies! etc. etc." It lets people know you're not trying to hit on them because they're hot, and that you don't just want action from a random girl on the internet.

Also, try to make some kind of joke, because someone that's funny is a lot less creepy than someone who isn't. If they laugh when reading their message, they're not gonna think you're nuts. Finally, keep the first message short. If you write a lot, people will get scared off quickly. Make a nice comment about something they're interested in, say something funny, and send it. Don't mention meeting or something like that, because it'll put people off if you want to meet right away. Take it REALLY easily--there are cool people on the facebook (or anywhere else on the internet) and a lot of uncool people. You don't want to scare the cool ones off or jump into something with the uncool ones. Take some time to get to know them online, and have fun. :-)