Only an administrator (you) can add friends to your website. People can request an account for your approval, but one cannot simply sign up. I prefer to keep most of this content to a known circle of friends and family, and this process has worked pretty well for me to date. Only your friends can see your stuff. Even if someone is a friend on another site, they have to be your friend to see your stuff.

You have two options for adding a friends: entering a new friend or importing a friend from another site.

Option 1: Adding a friend:

To add a friend, you need only know their first name, last name and email address. The system maintains a database of all friends segregated by site. You can share friends between sites and that friend need only maintain one profile. If you attempt to enter an email address for a friend that already exists in the system, you'll be asked to import that friend rather than create duplicates.

Log in as administrator at /admin/. Select Friends, Edit, Add a Person. Enter their last name, first name and email address. Each account needs a password, which is set to 'password' by default. You can change this at your discretion. Clicking submit adds this person to the database and assigns him/her to your site. If you add a person, you "own" this person meaning you can fully edit his/her details. If you import a person, you can view his/her profile but not edit it. You can however manage that person's activities on your site (blog, photo and video subscriptions, ability to post comments). If you like, you can choose a photo for your new friend by choosing Friends, Edit, Edit (Name), Choose a photo for (Name).

Option 2: Importing a Friend

For shared friends, you can import them to be included on your site. For example, everyone is friends with Vince Adams. He can maintain one account for use on all sites rather than create a new one for each person.

Log in as administrator at /admin/. Select Friends, Edit, Import a person from another site. You'll get a list of people who are friends on sites other than yours. Click, "Import this person" to invite them to be your friend. Clicking import does not automatically add this friend to your site, but it asks that person's permission to be added (they can decline, and sometimes do). Only I can add friends without using this process. Out of respect for privacy or other preferences, I prefer that people be invited and accept those invitations before being listed as friend.

As I mentioned, if you attempt to add a friend that already exists, you'll be asked to import them and they'll be sent an invitation.

That's pretty much it. Add all your friends today, or import those folks you already know.