With all of the activity online and the web becoming "social" I find there is a lot of confusion about what a Friend is.
See to me, a friend is someone I can count on (whether it be for something major or not) to be there for me in certain aspects of my life. This is not to say that I don't have some friends who are more dependable or loyal than others. Certainly in life there are friendships that come and go, but regardless, friends are more than just people you know.
The web has definitely become more social over the past several years (in particular about 2 years for my own experience) starting for me, with Facebook. In the beginning, most of the people that I "friended" were people that I would actually consider friends in my life.
Over time however, there are requests from acquaintances from the past, people I barely know. Some I ignore (I'm told they don't get notification when ignored, but I'm pretty sure they know) others I have accepted. Then there are those who are business contacts, not only on Facebook, but LinkedIn. Valuable contacts to have online definitely, but friends?
Anyway, I think you get the point. I do truly value the contacts I've made through various channels online. It's great to have people that share a common interest, even if they aren't people you know well. Over time, some of these contacts develop into friendships, just as the next person you meet when you go out could be your new best friend.
But, just because we're "friends" doesn't mean we're Friends!
Monday, December 1, 2008
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1 comments:
I think this is one of the reasons I enjoy Twitter using 'follower' and not 'friend'. Yes, it's fun to have Prime Minister Harper on your friendslist on Facebook... but does that mean he'll invite you over to watch the game? Probably not. People need to understand the distinction. And they shouldn't take it the wrong way if you choose not to add them on Facebook. Or if you happen to put them on a limited profile. A good show of 'friends' not being friends was when Mark Twitchell was first charged by the EPS. His facebook 'friends' list shrunk by the hour.
Real friends would more than likely stick with you... even through police charges.
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