Your friends are your savoir, Keep them

How to Talk to Someone You've Never Met

Speaking to someone you've never met is easy. The secret is not to get nervous, pay attention and ask questions. You should not wait too long, because if you do, someone else might talk to him first, and then he will be gone. Take a deep breath, think of a good salutation, and go for it!

Steps:
Make eye contact. This is a great way to connect to someone. They know you are interested.

Smile. The law of reciprocity says to give what you want. You will be amazed how many people smile back if you smile at them. Be sure it is a relaxed smile. There really isn't a right or wrong way to smile, so relax.

Say "Hello" or some other greeting. Be a little creative if you like. Specially if you can determine with certainty his/her first language try to greet with that language. "Aloha" and "Guten Tag" are two favorites. Be careful not to make assumptions about an individual's language based solely upon his/her appearance, however, as he could be offended if you guess incorrectly. Be warned that the more creative you are, the more likely they are to not understand you.

Evaluate the situation. If they are not maintaining eye contact with you, did not smile back, or did not respond to your greeting, then they may be otherwise distracted or this may not be a good time. If you will have an opportunity to talk to them soon (i.e. you see them on a regular basis) then you may want to wait. Otherwise continue.

Maintain eye contact and keep smiling, but be relaxed. Maintaining eye contact shows you are interested and intent, and generally everyone likes a smile.

Comment about something mutual: the weather, sports, work (if you work together), your location or situation (stuck in an elevator), traffic, etc. Talk about something you can both relate to, but not too personal. It's a great way to break the ice.

Tell them your name. Again, on the law of reciprocity, if you offer your first and last name then they will typically tell you theirs. But, it's better to start with your first name.

Offer your hand. If you offer your hand, then they will usually shake it.

Ask them a question, especially about Family, Occupation or Recreation (remember what questions are FOR). These are great things to ask questions about if you cannot think of anything else. It is important when asking questions that you are not interrogating them. Most people love to talk about themselves, but if they don't, then don't press them.

Listen to what they say. Remember details. Ask more questions that show you were paying attention.

Get a question in return. Eventually they will probably ask you a question, too (law of reciprocity). This is called a conversation. Answer their questions, but don't get too caught up talking about yourself.

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Ways To Improve Your Social Prospects Before You Try Meeting Anyone

Draw on your current contacts

This won't apply to people who have just moved to a new area and don't know anyone, but often you'll already have the seeds of a social life around you. You don't necessarily have to go out and meet ten strangers to have one. It's a lot easier to start turn existing contacts into full-fledged friends than it is to meet new ones.
There are probably a handful of people you already know who could end up becoming part of a new social circle. I'm talking about people like:
Acquaintances you're friendly with when you run into each other, but who you never see otherwise.
People at work or in your classes who you get along with.
Friends of people you know who you've gotten along with.
Someone who has shown an interest in being your friend but you never really took up the offer.
People you very occasionally hang out with, who you could see more.
Friends you've gradually lost contact with who you could call up again.
Siblings and relatives close to your age.
You just have to take the step of doing more social activities with them than you usually do. More on that below.

Meet some new people
Getting more out of your current relationships can go along way, but it doesn't always work. Sometimes you're at a point where you need to meet entirely new people. Not having easy access to potential new friends is a big barrier for many people in creating a social circle. I go into more detail here: Places And Ways To Meet New People.
Overall, I'd say the easiest things to do are:
Meet one or two cool people and then get to know all their friends. If you hang out with fifteen people, you shouldn't have to have met them all individually.
Having a specific interest you want to build your social circle around and then actively seeking out others who share it. This can be as simple as joining a team or club (which you'd want to do anyways, just to take part in your hobby).
Being in a situation where there are lots of your peers around and then getting to know some of them through your day-to-day interactions. Work and school are the two big ones.

Do your best to accept every invitation
If someone invites you to do something, then you should go. Why turn down a free chance to get out there with people?
If you're more of an shy or solitary person it's easy to mull over the invitation and rationalize that it won't be that fun and that you don't want to go. Ignore those thoughts and go anyways. You never can be sure how fun something will be until you show up and see how it is for yourself.
Sometimes you'll have to inconvenience yourself for the sake of your social life. You may get invited to a movie you don't particularly want to see, or someone might call you up on Friday evening as you're about to go to bed, asking if you want to go out. Whenever you have two or more people in the equation, you're going to have to compromise sometimes. Again, just being out there outweighs these minor annoyances.

Invite potential friends to do something with you
Ask the people you get along with to hang out. Give them a call, or ask them if you see them around in person. Invite them to go out to do something (See: Activities People Do When They Hang Around Each Other for some really basic thoughts on this topic).
This is the most important step in my experience. You can meet all the people you want, and they can think you're great, but if you don't take any actions to do something with them in the future, then you won't form many new relationships. People will stay as the guy you talk to in class, or the girl you chat to at work in the break room.
This is basic stuff, but lonlier people often hit a wall here. There may be someone they joke around with at work, or chat to in one of their classes, but they won't take the step of inviting them out and taking the relationship to the next level.

If you hit it off with someone get their contact information
If you meet someone cool don't assume that you'll run into them again. Get their phone number or maybe their email address. If you're shy this may take a small amount of nerve the first few times, but it's one of those things that ceases to seem like a big deal at all once you're used it. You can also get used to the odd rejection quite quickly. Also make sure people have your contact info in case they ever want to invite you along somewhere.

Have a basic grasp of how to make plans
Depending on what works for you, you may want to do something one-on-one with someone or go out in a larger group. If you know a bunch of people, plus your potential new friend, are going to do something anyways, you can also ask if you can come along.
Making plans can be tedious and unpredictable at times. Try your best to get used to it. It personally helped me to accept this wasn't a situation where I could perfectly control and arrange everything ahead of time. I had to come to peace with the uncertainty of trying to organize something with one or more other people.
If inviting people out and arranging plans all seems like a big hassle, it also probably feels that way for them at times. They shouldn't always have to step up and organize things for you. Do some of the lifting yourself at times.

How to Make Friends And Get a Social Life

Getting a social life isn't as complicated as it may seem, although it can require some patience. The thing is that most people make and keep friends without really thinking about how they do it. They just picked up the skills automatically as they grew up. If you've always been more of the shy, loner type than you'll probably appreciate some pointers.



Basics to have covered:
Pretty much any one can have a group of friends if they want to. You more or less need to have these broad factors in order though. People who have trouble making friends often go wrong somewhere here:

A fairly decent personality and social skills
This one's obvious. The more rewarding you are to be around, the more easily you'll make friends. You can be far from perfect though. Even people who most of us would consider annoying often have a social network.

Knowledge about how to make friends
That's what this article will cover. Most people have this knowledge instinctively. I had to piece it together bit by bit, even the stuff that seems really obvious.

Enough guts to invite people out fairly easily
This one has held me back personally. I'd want to invite someone out, but I'd always have some reason to decide against it. I was hardly a nervous wreck, but I'd be just slightly anxious enough that it would make the different between inviting someone out and not.

Enough internal desire to have a group of friends
Some people want a group of friends in theory, to ease their feelings of loneliness, but at the same time they're a little indifferent to the concept. Some of us aren't as naturally social as others. When your whole heart isn't into the idea of having a group of friends, your efforts can stall out, or be very start and stop.

You like other people
Seems too obvious to write, but I used to be quite negative towards other people. I always had a reason to not want to be friends with someone. I've read lonely people in general tend to be a little more harsh in their judgments of others.Here are my thoughts on how to get a group of friends together:

Don't be too hard on yourself over your current lack of friends
That's easier said than done of course. It's not totally rare for someone to have to start from zero. People who move to a new area have to do it all the time. People who get out of long term relationships, or who outgrow their current social circle also commonly have to rebuild their social circles.

Get an outside life on your own
You don't have to be a hermit while you're pulling your new social life together. Go see some live music, go check out the local bars and have a drink or two by yourself, go see some stand-up comedy, go to a sports bar and watch the game, start going to a rock climbing gym, take some classes, if you're in college then join some associations and clubs, walk around interesting neighborhoods, go to any interesting local events advertised in the paper, if you're going to read or play on your laptop you might was well go to a coffee shop to do it, etc., etc., etc.,
Doing these things will take the edge off of any loneliness and boredom you may feel. They'll will also fill your head with knowledge of things to do and places to go when you are hanging around people. Also just being in situations where there are people around, even if you're not interacting with them all that much, gives you some of the feelings of having a social life. And through doing all these activities there are plenty of chances to actually meet people too of course.