Have you ever reached the point where you just do not know how to stay connected with all of your Facebook friends anymore? You look around and say who are those people that I connected with last year. Maybe it was someone I met at a networking event, or on Twitter. Either way, the challenge is now you have to know which Facebook friends are really friends.

OK! Well, I may be getting a little personal here, but that was me. I still have challenges with keeping up with all of my friends, but I have figured out systems to keep up with the vast majority of connections.

Last year I maxed out my Facebook friends. In fact, I even had a No More Friends networking event. While that was fun, it still left me wondering how in the world I am going to leverage the connections I have now in order to build better relationships and also build my business.

The quick answer is that not all 5,000 were worthy of my attention. Shocker indeed! I have pared down the list when I have had time by 10% over the past year. Every time someone I do not know spams me, I take them off my Facebook friends list. I pared down the international friends as well, because it was interfering with friends that I connect with here locally.

So, now that you know what did to get rid of the undesirables(Just got Harry Potter 7 on DVD), you are wondering well how do you find the desirable’s to build a closer relationships.

I send them a Facebook message. Say what? I send them a Facebook message asking to meet them for coffee, tea, or their beverage of choice. I can not tell you how many people deemed their beverage of choice to be a beer! If they are too far away to meet in person I do a phone or skype conference call with them.

While I have not gotten to all of my Facebook friends I have reached out to at least 500 or more so far. By the end of the year I should have reached out to everyone. Some have said they do not want to talk to me. They go in with the undesirables. However, a lot more have said they want to learn about my business or how we can work together.

Some amazing Joint Ventures are coming out of these messages. Plus, I have had the opportunity to connect with clients who would normally not give me the time of day, because they were off elsewhere.

Even more amazing then that is how it has refocused my business. I still use networking along with social networking as a driver of my business. Now, I can get even more benefit from connecting with those in my network online that I do not have to attend as many networking events as I used to when I started my business. In essence, it brings balance to my marketing strategy.

And it also is a great to make your Facebook friends feel more valued!