You can add other Community members as contacts from the Member Directory or from a profile page. This allows you to keep updated with fellow members.

To add another Community member as a contact click "add contact" in the member's profile page.

Both parties must agree to be Contacts.
If someone requests you to be a contact you will get an email and it will also be indicated in the user bar. Click on Invite(s) and "Accept" or "Ignore".

You can use this feature along with the messaging feature to keep in touch with fellow members