Despite all the horror stories you hear about people making friends with various kinds of human predators on Facebook, that hasn’t been my experience. Not.at.all.
Possibly, this is because I’m not young, hot, and vulnerable, though I’d like to think a simpler explanation exists, that writers work a lonely craft and need community to remember that they aren’t just a set of fingers tapping on a keyboard. Writing tends to send us seeking in safe places, and being students of human nature, I’d argue we’re already on the lookout for weird, even if only to include it in our stories.
Since I’ve been on Facebook, I’ve taken the further step of meeting many of my “friends” in person and have learned that almost all of them are the same online as they are offline. Most of these friends have turned out to be wonderful people. I’ve been stunned how accurately you can know someone from Facebook. Sure, there have been one or two exceptions, but generally, an in-person meeting just confirmed what I already suspected was there. For efficiency, there’s nothing I know which has worked better for me than this arm’s length chance to meet before making a deeper investment in friendship.
How real are Facebook friendships? This article from The Atlantic has more to say on the subject. In the meantime, I’m one day behind on posting for the A to Z Blog Challenge and need to get caught up reading for friends.
See you out there.