After moving to Perth from the UK when she married, Rachelli Yaafe found herself extremely lonely and struggling to find ways to meet people.

So she decided to use social media to reach out to others.

"He [Rachelli's husband] worked long hours, I was home all alone all the time and there wasn't anything I could find to really connect with people," Ms Yaafe told Jessica Strutt on ABC Radio Perth.

"I needed to connect with women, so there was lots of trawling through different Facebook groups and trying to connect with different people."

Sorry, this audio has expired How do you make new friends as you get older ?

Eventually, in June 2016, Ms Yaafe decided to found her own group, and just over three years on there are now 12,000 members of her Facebook group, Be.Her.Friend.

Her group is free of charge and lets members post openly about looking for friends — women aged from their early 20s right up to their 80s have signed up.

Finding friends outside of school and work can prove challenging. ( Unsplash: Bewkoof.com/CC0 )

But Ms Yaafe said even with the huge group, and the social events she runs, making solid friendships has been hard work.

"Even though I've been running the group and running events it is probably only in the last six months to a year that I actually found people that are my people," she said.

"It is really hard and people have to look a bit like online dating."

Others agreed that it was hard to make friends as adult.

Kevin: "It's very hard to do. The friends you make at school and university are the ones that seem closest and continue. I have often wondered why this is."

Stace: "In my late 40s and happily married. Can't say I have any close friends except my close family. Making new friends is hard work. Keeping old friends can be just as tough."

Sarah: "Perth is very all about what school you went to and when you are from — other places it is impossible to break through the old school-tie mentality."

Ms Yaafe said that even with the internet, making friends takes time and persistence.

The first meet-up she organised with through the group, a lunch with four people, was not a huge success.

"It was terrifying," she recalled.

"I talk a lot anyway so I was talking more than normal, it was uncomfortable and awkward.

"I am not friends with those four people now."

The unexpected face of loneliness Almost a third of 18–24-year-olds say they feel frequently or always lonely

Almost a third of 18–24-year-olds say they feel frequently or always lonely Only 32 per cent are rarely or never lonely, compared with 71 per cent of older Australians

Only 32 per cent are rarely or never lonely, compared with 71 per cent of older Australians 44 per cent of 18–24-year-olds rate their mental health as average or poor

44 per cent of 18–24-year-olds rate their mental health as average or poor Loneliness is more prevalent among culturally and linguistically diverse Australians Source: the ABC's Australia Talks National Survey, a nationally-representative survey of 54,000 Australians

'Everything happens online now'

For Amanda Horlin, joining the group and meeting new people has helped her move on after a marriage breakup.

"I had a few friends but I felt that I didn't connect with them and like I wasn't able to catch up with them as much as I liked and I just really liked the idea of trying to get out and meet new people," she said.

"But I had two little kids and it was really hard, I didn't really want to join a new class or something like that, I didn't have the time to make the commitment for that."

Going to an event alone, to meet women she did not know, was nerve-racking but ultimately worthwhile and Ms Horlin encouraged others to broaden their social circle online.

"I come across a lot of people that are in the same situation," she said.

"They want to know where to meet people and they are not sure."

"In this day and age it feels like everything happens online."

71 per cent of older Australians told Australia Talks they were rarely or never lonely. ( Unsplash: Vlad Sargu/CC0 )

For Ms Yaafe, even though searching for friendship can feel a bit like dating, she is glad she persisted.

"For a long time I found Perth very difficult and I was very unhappy here," she said.

"But now I've got a circle of women around me.

"This group has given me a whole new life in Perth."

Get a hobby. Many listeners said finding an interest group had helped them make good friends. ( ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne )

ABC Radio Perth listeners top tips for making friends were sports, hobbies, clubs and volunteering:

Chris: "Our seniors aquarobics has BECOME a great social group. Twelve or so stay for coffee after. We have breakfasts three to four times year. This has all just grown organically. So just DO something."

Vicki: "Team sports is a great way. If you make at least one friend in a team of 10 you're doing a great job. Remember you can't be friends with everyone. Don't try so hard and be yourself."

Adele: "Join a gym, a book club, a movie club, a dance class, an arts centre, a sports club. Join anything where you are put into conversant situations with other people. I was lonelier as a teenager and living with family than I am now aged 55 and living alone!"

Aisha: "I'm 32, I made a whole community of friends by starting a social hobby. I chose Latin dance, and I have opened up my friend circle immensely with people I would never have met otherwise."