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.
I’ve had a couple bad experiences, but they’ve been far outweighed by the good. It’s always fun to meet online friends in real life.
I have also made some wonderful friends, true friends, courtesy of the Book of Faces (how a blogger friend refers to it). I have maintained friendships as well. Granted, there are the occasional invites from men who think I have a pretty face. I appreciate the thought even though I’ve only ever had one romantic connection via the Book of Faces. One of these days, we will meet in person like “real friends” and then you’ll have to make the determination about me!
I’ve met lovely people on Facebook. I’ve had a few meet ups and we had the craic and a few pints in town 😉
I’ve finally stopped laughing about the FB repartee about “young, hot, and vulnerable.” 🙂 What a great article you referenced/linked to. I want to do that, go travel to FB friends’ houses and take everyone’s photo. Oh wait…I sort of do that already. The development of friendships and meetups with (mostly writer) friends has been one of the great joys of the past few years. I appreciate the major part you’ve played in that adventure, too!
Yes, about those photos, see the “G” post in this series 🙂
I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting a few of my Facebook friends, and would agree, it’s been a wonderful experience. Looking forward to meeting more in the future!!
Yes, the metopes are the best. Thanks for reading and commenting.