Facebook Friend Requests, Do They Count as a First Move in A Relationship?

So this kind of occurred to me last time in class, and I'm thinking about looking more into it as a potential research proposal topic. We talked about Facebook and how certain personality attributes could be related to the amount of time spent on Facebook as well as how many friends people have. The articles found that extraverts tended to have more friends than introverts, but also found that shy individuals spend more time on Facebook as well as have more favorable attitudes toward the site than nonshy individuals. In my opinion, this implies that introverts may have different motivations for using Facebook aside from the social aspects. Maybe they like being a part of a social network, while also taking advangtage of the anonymity of it all. Interacting online is a much less personal form of communication, which may be the appeal to shy individuals. I would consider myself to be a fairly shy person, which is why I think that shy people might appreciate being able to stay socially up to date, without ever having to feel the "spotlight", as they more likely would in person. They may be relieved of the pressure of having to use and interpret verbal and nonverbal cues in person by relying on online forms of communication and social networking.

We also mentioned friend requests in class, like who is more likely to send and accept them on a regular basis. This is what got me thinking about a possible research topic. If extraverts are known to have more friends on Facebook, could this mean that they consider "friending" someone a first move in establishing a relationship with someone? I think the longer Facebook is around, the more people are likely to use it when meeting new people. Basically, are friend requests considered to be a first move, as a phone call or any other personal interaction used to be? Or could they be in the near future?