It takes an additional 30 seconds of  time to click the [add a personal  message] link to say why you want to be my friend or how you know me.  Chances are, I do want to be your  friend. However, if I have no idea who  you are and we have no friends in  common, you probably just come off  kind of creepy. The same thing goes  for Brightkite. Right below the “Add  to Friends” button is the “Send  Message” button. I strongly encourage their use. 

Of course, there is a right and wrong way to go about this. I imagine you are all mature enough to figure out the difference, but here’s an example of what NOT to say: “Hi you’re cute! I saw you on (random site), let’s be friends!”.

Please realize my reason for doing this isn’t to be vain or rude. It’s because I have some personal information on there that I don’t want everyone privy to, such as my phone number or my location. I’m sure with a little digging stalkers could find out this information anyway, but it makes me feel a little better knowing I tried to limit this information the best way I could. So unless you want to look like a creeper (which I’m sure you don’t), please be considerate and send a nice message before you click that “Add Friend” button.