The term “friending” has certainly come up before if you are familiar with Facebook or social media in general. It’s a term for making a user your buddy that is prevalent on social media platforms.
Giving someone access to your profile on Facebook effectively allows them to become friends with you by learning more about you and adding you as a friend.
You must first find someone’s profile on Facebook before adding them as a friend.
This is typically done by entering their name into the search box, which can be found towards the top of the majority of Facebook sites.
Select Add as Friend from the drop-down option that comes after you click on the tiny cogwheel icon next to their name on their profile.
If you can’t find their profile, you have two alternatives for getting in touch with them: either ask your common friends for their contact information or look them up in the app store on your phone if they have a profile-specific app available.
Read on to find out why the Add Friend button is grey rather than blue.
Reasons Why Add Friend Button on Facebook Is Grey
There are a few reasons why the “Add Friend” button on Facebook is grey:
| Reasons | |
| 1 | Your Facebook friend limit has been reached (5,000 for regular accounts). |
| 2 | Your friend request was rejected by the other party. |
| 3 | The person has restricted their privacy settings. |
| 4 | Your request was marked as spam. |
| 5 | Your current friend request is still pending. |
| 6 | The person is blocked by you. |
I’ll go into greater depth about each circumstance and how to handle it in the sections that follow.
Your Facebook Friend Limit Has Been Reached
Do you realise there is a friend restriction on Facebook? You won’t be able to send any further friend invitations after that point.
There is a cap of 5,000. You probably have more friends than the 5,000 friend limit if you use Facebook to promote something or are particularly “nice.”
Once you’ve done so, Facebook will either completely remove or grey out the “Add Friend” button to prevent you from submitting any additional friend requests.
Unfortunately, your only option is to drop one of your existing friends in order to add someone new.
The “Add Buddy” button will no longer be greyed out after you remove a friend and drop below the 5,000 friend threshold.
If you want to advertise something, I advise you to send friend requests exclusively to those who will engage with you and benefit you.
A typical Facebook user won’t typically find much value in having more than 100–200 friends. You cannot converse with each of those people and uphold the same level of intimacy.
Your Friend Request Was Rejected by The Other Party
If the other person has rejected your friend request, the “Add Friend” option can turn greyed out.
If someone has previously declined your friend request, Facebook won’t let you send them another one for a while.
It lasts for a year. You cannot send a friend request to someone who rejects it and deletes it for at least a year.
This is how Facebook combats spam and promotes user confidence on social media.
The other person can still approach you with a friend request, though. You don’t have to wait a year to send them another friend request if you can persuade them to accept it.
The Person Has Restricted Their Privacy Settings
Another explanation for the greyed-out “Add Friend” option on Facebook is that the other person has purposefully forbidden strangers from friend-requesting them.
You may do this in your Facebook privacy settings under the “Who can send me friend requests?” option. There are two options to choose from:
- Friends of friends
- Everyone
You won’t be able to send someone a friend request if you don’t have any mutual friends if they choose the “Friends of friends” option.
Sending a friend request to one of the pals is a straightforward solution. You’ll do this to become a “friend of their buddy” and break free from Facebook’s constraints.
When the other person sets the “Who can see your friends list?” option to “Friends,” it becomes much more difficult to accomplish this.
It implies that you won’t be able to view their friend list, making this approach useless right from the get.
Your Request Was Marked as Spam
Perhaps the other individual flagged your friend request as spam outright. The “Add Friend” button being disabled may be due to this.
Though it doesn’t happen often, occasionally someone will express extreme annoyance upon receiving your friend request.
You won’t be able to friend them again indefinitely after they designate your request as spam.
Either the “Add Friend” button turns grey or vanishes entirely.
I’m not sure I have a decent answer for this. You can ask them why they flagged your friend request as spam by sending them a Facebook message.
Or request their acceptance of your friend request. However, neither path guarantees success. But it’s still worth a try.
Your Current Friend Request Is Still Pending
You are unable to send another friend request to someone after you have already done so. It may indicate that your prior friend request is still pending if the “Add Friend” option is greyed out.
If the other person isn’t responding to your friend request, they may be ignoring you. Try contacting them and requesting their acceptance of your friend request if they are ignoring you.
Normally, if the other person doesn’t accept or decline the friend request, it will expire after 14 days. You can resend a friend request to them after 14 days.
But it becomes obvious that the other person is purposefully ignoring you if the friend request has been pending for more than three days.
The Person is Blocked By You
Believe me, even the finest of us experience it. You won’t be able to send someone a friend request if you blocked them previously and promptly forgot about it.
Either the button won’t appear at all or it will be greyed out. Unblocking them from their profile page will fix this.
You can send them a friend request once you unblock them because the “Add Friend” friend will then be accessible.
It’s fortunate that the person you’ve blocked may not have noticed it. You can now pose as innocent and ask them to be your friend.
If they reject the friend request, they must have realized you had already blocked them. You now find yourself in a position where you must defend yourself.
What happens if you press the grey Add Friend button?
The Friend Suggestions page will open when you click the grey Add Friend button. When you click the blue Add Friend button, a page similar to this one will load.
However, this page offers recommendations for new friends that Facebook believes would be suitable matches for you, rather than a list of all of your friends.
The ranking is determined by the frequency with which your buddy likes and comments on posts, by how closely they are connected to other users in their network, and by how many connections they have with other users’ friends.
Every time your friend clicks the Add Friend button on Facebook, a different set of options is displayed.
This means that there isn’t just one way to find out if someone wants to be your buddy or if they have already accepted your friendship request.
Conclusion
- Facebook uses the grey Add Friend button to ensure that you only add friends who you know. This is done to stop uninvited “friends” from posting malicious content and spreading false information on your timeline.
- You must input the name of another person who is acquainted with the person you wish to add when you see the grey button.
- The button will turn blue and you’ll be able to add this person as a friend and view their posts in your newsfeed if you type in the name of a common friend of theirs.
- The button will remain grey if you type in a name for someone who doesn’t know this individual. You will need to type a message in this situation stating why you want to add this person as a friend.