Facebook is awesome, I’ll be the first to admit it. Although some of my friends are prone to giving TMI, it’s the neatest thing since sliced bread to be able to peak in on how 120 of my closest friends are doing in Mafia Wars on any given day. Sarcasm aside, I really am grateful to FB for reconnecting me with some old friends. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, I met up with my three best friends from high school – something that probably would not have come to pass if not for Facebook.

So FB is essential for keeping in touch with old friends, but have you noticed that it’s not the easiest forum to make new friends? Oh sure, I can add friends to my heart’s content, but I don’t really get to know any of them any better than I knew them before I added them. So, if they were total strangers to me when I added them as friends, now they’re total strangers whose accomplishments on Farmville I’m well aware of.

For making new friends, I recommend more intimate social networking sites such as Grounded and Christian Nation. Both of these sites share some commonalities: First, they are both powered by Ning, a social networking program that is big on discussion and interaction among all members. Ning is no FB, it’s a huge collection of intimate social networks around topics. In fact, there are dozens of Christian social networks, I’m just sharing about two with which I have had some personal experience. Browse NIng’s selection of other social networks to find like-minded rat lovers, knitters and diva sports commentators, among others. As usual, browser beware because some of these social networks are off-color. Unlike groups on FB, Ning groups are active and very social.

Secondly, both Grounded and Christian Nation are relatively small groups with less than 2,000 members, and both are all about Christian living. If you’ve not got a friend in the world, you can find a friend on one of these sites. I’ve been a member at Christian Nation for quite a while and I have to say that I am genuinely impressed with the level of Christian commitment of the members I’ve interacted with. And it’s very easy to get to know people – it’s more like chat in that regard than FB is.

So if you’re lonely tonight, don’t rot in front of the boob tube or start browsing eHarmony (no, I did not make that a hotlink!), reach out for friendship with other women and men of faith.