Comments on: How Friendships Are Changing

By: goonerjamie

goonerjamie — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:20:28 +0000

I nowadays feel closer to my online friends than my 'real world' friends. I find it a lot easier to moan and rant online than off. The “I don't know what music you're listening to” struck a chord (sorry). If a twitter pal hasn't tweeted for a while I wonder if they are ok, yet I can go months without speaking to real friends without a second thought. Am not sure if this is a good thing or not, but am going to go with the flow whilst it still works. A great read.

By: Kari Lønning

Kari Lønning — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:42:41 +0000

Friendships I've made over the internet have the virtue of being nurtured in a way that the older ones, based on history aren't. Because I use social media as part of my business, these new friends share activities that I'm involved with on a daily basis so we can actively update each other without much effort. Recently a few of my longest kept friends have started to become more internet active, and that has been a joy.

Also, as I get older, I need different things in a friendship. Nothing can compare to having a close friend there to hug when I really need it, but I've found people via the internet with whom I have more in common than those who live in town with me. I cherish the connections I've made. Will they last and survive the test of time? … We'll see. And in the meantime, I'm having fun introducing the groups to each other!

By: lihsa

lihsa — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:43:07 +0000

I am a member of a social networking site over the last 2 years and I have made some deep connections with people from around the world. They have helped me test online marketing launches, listened to my litany of "first dates," shared movie reviews and generally kept each other up to date on our lives in our different corners of the world.

I will likely never meet them or talk on the phone but I am more comfortable sharing with them some deeply personal facts that only a handful of people in my "real" life know about.

And when the "hit sits the fan" I am more likely to turn to them than to my offline friends. Unlike my real-life, preoccupied, married friends with children, the response I get back from my blog friends is immediate.

It is an odd life we have made for ourselves ...

By: Garrett

Garrett — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:08:31 +0000

I like your post. Good topic. There are many people I am friendly with but relatively few with whom I have a deep connection. Facebook has been a great way to reconnect with old friends but it's not the same. Usually the “friending” is all that happens, and it takes effort to make the time to chat online or send a message or arrange a meeting. I've come to some acceptance about this. Don't know if things are different now, necessarily; trust is earned and nurtured over a long period of time. And I fail.

By: Scott Davis

Scott Davis — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:01:52 +0000

One thing I have found, is that a true friend is one who understands you when you have not spoken to them for years, and when you meet up everything can be said in silence.