The Internet has brought all the nations of the world very close, in the sense that communicating with each other without spending anything has become possible without any hindrances. You can chat with people staying anywhere at any time, if you have an Internet connection. This way of communicating helps to save a lot of time and energy. The reasons for meeting people online can be many. Some people use the Internet to chat with their friends or to make new friends, while some want to meet up with new people for educational, personal, or business related purposes. Here's how you go about making acquaintances over the Internet. Guidelines The first thing you should do is become a member of any good social site. To do this, go to the sign-in option and fill up the sign in form, which contains personal details like name, country, desired user name, desired password, etc. Once you get the confirmation of your account being successfully created, you can log-in at any time and meet new people, that too free of cost. Try using the online chat rooms and forums provided by the online service providers. You have to type in your message in the space provided and wait for the reply. This process continues as long as you wish. Once you are satisfied with the kind of people you are meeting or the overall quality of the service provider, you can become a regular visitor to that site. By doing this, your social circle will become very large and you can easily get answers to all your queries. Online dating and friendship is a growing trend these days. Using the powerful Internet search engines, you can get access to innumerable dating sites of which you can become a member. You should read the terms and conditions of the websites properly, before becoming a member to avoid controversies later on. Become a member of only those website or service providers whose conditions are acceptable to you and has a good reputation in the market. Once you open these sites, you get a variety of names and photos of people belonging to different religions, cities, and even different countries. You can include the people whom you like, or find interesting, and chat with them. The use of social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut, for making friends, has increased greatly due to the growing popularity of online friendship. You will get the facility of uploading your photos, your personal information, quotes, and blogs on your accounts, in these social networking sites. Additional useful services like web casts, message boards, and telephonic chatting are provided by many sites. Precautions You should be fully aware of the precautions to be taken while you meet people online. Verify whether the person you are talking to is good enough to be a friend. Remove people from your friends list, if he uses abusive language or if you find something fishy about him. Do not fall prey to fraudsters posing as friends and trying to seek money for medical or other reasons. Do not disclose personal information beyond a limit and consult someone if you do not understand. You can meet people online by following the above suggestions. My suggestion will be to make good use of Internet to have some fun in your life.