This is a site I stumbled upon recently that you might find helpful:

Meeting people

It is probably geared more towards issues with shyness / introversion and how this affects meeting people. (my own issues). From what you've written here, this doesn't seem to be the issue for you. However, I found the articles on this site to be generally helpful, and they might give you some ideas as well.

The person who writes them apparently faced his own problems with this issue and eventually improved his situation. He also got a degree in social work. (I'm just quoting from the site here, and can't verify this.) Regardless, I found these to be some of the more realistic articles on these issues I've come across. They're written with a very practical common sense approach, and, while encouraging, don't try to sugarcoat the process of meeting people. I think he does present some valid ideas about why certain things, like simply being friendly, might not work, and what you might try instead.