Friend Applications Exist?

I thought it was a joke but apparently people seriously, actually, legiterally have FRIEND APPLICATIONS open? I thought it was some roundabout joke-y way of referring to getting to know each other and not a legitimate application process. I kind of understand because it's an easy way to like, find people who want to hang or whatever, but why not just talk to each other? Drop a comment on their page and work from there? I dunno, I just think it's weird that on the social media site people still resort to weird, esoteric ways to talk to each other.