There are numerous small businesses, organizations and groups attempting to cultivate an online audience. Many of these business owners are using social networking sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, to develop an online following.

For now, setting up pages and business accounts on these sites is free and it’s relatively easy. If membership and visibility on social networking sites is a priority – friends and contacts are also important success.

Like any social activity, participation in the conversation is critical to winning friends and becoming popular. So, the more relevant “chatter” posted on social networking accounts, the more interest in your company, organization or group. Posting on regular basis is important to nourishing the contacts you already have.

It is possible to expand friend popularity on social networking sites through some proven methods, too. These days there is a lot of cross-pollination between email contact lists and social networking sites.

Q. What is Friend Seeding?
A. It’s geek speak for increasing the number of friends and associates on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Q. What is the most effective way to do friend seeding on Facebook?
A. The primary way to obtain more friends is to allow Facebook to view all email accounts and contacts associated with that account. If you have several email accounts and one is reserved for business correspondence, use the business email. For business pages, generate friends from other employees’ email addresses. Facebook will automatically generate friend requests from you through the email contact lists. Presently Facebook is set up to work with Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, Comcast, SBCGlobal.net, Verizon.net and even Skype. It will also work with some other email services.

In addition, Facebook encourages options, called ‘Other Tools.’ It will crawl resident email programs on the computer such as Eudora or Apple Mail. Facebook will also look for contacts already on Facebook, from past high schools, colleges and universities, and past and present employers. Facebook has stored this information in your individual or company profile, so it is simply matching you to others with parallel information listed. Typing an email address into Facebook’s search bar is one of the simplest ways to find someone.

Q. What is the most effective way to do friend seeding on Twitter?
A. Twitter has developed a different spin on friend seeding then Facebook. You can view suggestions from Twitter. In theses selections, Twitter attempts to link you to friends of people following you. On Twitter, you may also browse interests by large categories and get more specific with keyword searches. Find Friends will search email contacts and generate automatic messages to those contacts inviting them to follow you on Twitter. Find Friends will also search a LinkedIn account if it exists. Twitter, like Facebook allows you to expand followers by typing in their email address.

Q. What are some insights on expanding contacts on LinkedIn.com?
A. LinkedIn allows members to import contacts from the email account connected to the LinkedIn account. Business referrals are a common practice. LinkedIn encourages this sort of business networking and offers a forum for it online. LinkedIn allows the member to invite connections from his or her own network by contacting others through existing connections. LinkedIn Groups are also a great way to expand contact lists. Join LinkedIn Groups related to a profession or industry and start actively conversing and posting to groups instead of just ‘lurking.’ Often members of the group will become interested in what you’re saying and want to be connected to you.

Q. Are there other ways to find friends besides private email contact lists?
A. Yes. If you have a solid email list developed for your company, try uploading this list to Facebook or Twitter. Check individual sites for proper file formats. Using an effective email list of clients, business contacts, and prospects will be quite helpful in expanding business in the world of social media. These lists can be uploaded to sites and automatic friend or contact requests will be sent.

It’s pretty evident that there are plenty of ways to expand friend and contact lists on social networking websites. If friend seeding is done properly, a business or organization’s presence on these major social networking sites can be increased dramatically.