I’ve established, to a painfully detailed degree I imagine, that I lean towards introversion. Also, I work pretty much full time, so I spend a lot of time at my desk in front of my computer. I also spend a large part of the day on the telephone for work, which means I don’t often talk to friends. All of these factors surely contribute to the fact that for a long time email has been my preferred way to communicate with most people.
It’s not a surprise, then, that I’ve followed the explosion of social media in the last several years. I was late to join Facebook, though I’m there now. I love Twitter, and for years it has been my primary news source. I visit Pinterest and Instagram (name: lemead) regularly. I would love to connect with any of you in any of those places.
Part of why I’m eager to connect with people on Facebook, Twitter, and beyond is that I’ve made very real friendships in this virtual space. Some of my relationships that began in the ether have become an important and sustaining friendship, including time together in the real world. Aidan, Denise, and others (so many others!) have transitioned from twitter icon on my screen to people I’ve spent in-person time with. In some cases these virtureal (hat tip: Aidan) friends have met my children, and I have met theirs.
I believe it goes the other way too, by which I mean when a dear in-real-life friend (made in the days before – gasp – the internet) moves, say, to China, you can continue your closeness through virtual channels for a very long time. This applies also when your only, beloved sibling moves, say, to Jerusalem.
Have you met people in this virtual world who have become in-real-life friends? What is your favorite social network? Please let me know and I’ll pop over and follow you!
I am so grateful to all of these places, too, and for your support and friendship over the past couple years.
I am not sure I would have started blogging without your encouragement, Lindsey, and you have become an integral part of my life.
Much gratitude and love to you…
And, to answer your question, while I still prefer Twitter, my tribe of coaches on Facebook just came to life in the form of 308 people at a Summit meeting in Arizona. It was so amazing to “meet” them all… some of whom I have been in classes or working with for a year or so!
I love the way all of these venues tie us together, all over the world.
Thanks for shining some light on this!
Absolutely! I’m so lucky that Kristen of Motherese has become a virtureal friend. In fact, we met up for a writing workshop last fall and are doing the same this summer!
I can’t seem to get onto Twitter, but spend (too much) time on Facebook. My husband, who is an introvert, made the observation that “Twitter is for introverts and Facebook is for extroverts.” What do you think?
Virtureal…I Iove that! I struggle with adding social media to the rest of my writing schedule, and life with kids, but also really enjoy making connections there. This year, I attended the Blissdom conference for the first time and I must admit, it was very cool to hang out with some virtureal friends and get to know them on a different level. Although I think social media is a good start, it can’t beat a laugh over a glass of wine!
I am lucky to have met a handful of my virtureal friends in real time (including my beloved Elizabeth above), although I still long for the day when I have the chance to sit down over a glass of wine with you, my dear – perhaps with that special Jerusalem denizen when she returns stateside. Now that would be lovely. xo
Yes. You 😉
Virtureal. Also very real.
Xoxo
I love the term “virtureal.” And oh, I’ve met so many friends through blogs and Twitter – including you! 🙂
Okay, well I met YOU in person before finding you on Twitter and on your blog. (We met at Muse.) I was struck by your friendliness and sense of style. I remember your fabulous flats. For real.
Anyway, I’ve had the other way around experience too–meeting people AFTER connecting online. A good friend of mine, who lives 45 minutes away, became a Twitter friend after we had back-to-back pieces on Literary Mama. Now we’re critique partners and true friends. She came with me to Muse actually and we roomed together and watched the royal wedding.
I love Twitter! Starting to love Pinterest too, but I don’t see it as social . . . more as a place of inspiration.
The friendships I’ve made through blogging and the online world have propped me up when I needed it the most. The love and support is amazing. I have yet to meet any of these lovely people, but I feel that there will be a time when that happens. Twitter is my favorite social network (of course because I work there!)
I consider my friend Maureen, whom I have never laid eyes on, to be a true companion of my heart. If I ever meet her in person I will consider it merely icing on an already delicious friendship cake.
My in-person friend Susan describes these very real friendships as the internet-era version of pen-pals.
Lindsay- You are truly a gifted virtual friend! You are so good at this! You’ve got me taking notes. I’m still lost on Twitter. Feel like there’s a party going on and I’m not invited. I don’t mean that to sound pathetic, I guess I just mean that I don’t “get” it yet. I really do appreciate how one can connect with people via blogs that you otherwise wouldn’t meet. I love that.
My online friendships have, in some cases, been some of the most profound my life. In the online space I’ve found friends of my heart, kindred spirits. As I’ve enjoyed them, and nourished them, so too have I found them challenging, the desire to be closer to extend beyond the “virtual” has proven very difficult and not always seamless. My online friendships feel like they are always in flux, and yet in other ways more constant than any other. So many contradictions I know.