This is another post in a series I’m doing of questions that some of you asked. If you would like to add your question, go here and do so.
Today’s question is from Kristin. She has a great blog that you should check out.
Her question is:
How has your experience with social media changed your understanding of friendship and community? Or: How do you define “friend” and “community” in an age of social media?
I remember the day when the line between social media friend and real life friend disappeared. It was the day Rose and I had coffee with Brent and Tam. Before I had only known them through their blogs. They remain good friends of ours even to today.
I think we often have narrow views of what community and friendship is and should look like. Just about everyday I wish I could hang out with some of the readers of this blog and many of the people I engage with on Twitter and Facebook. Even though I haven’t been able to hang out with them in person, I still think of them as friends that are a part of the online community that continues to grow and reshape itself.
This is how my view of a friend has changed. It has been opened up to many more possibilities beyond just the people I run into during my day.
With all that said, I do think that online community is only a means to an end of face to face community.
There is something about being human that means we need something we can touch and talk to.
Why is social media friendship the big thing right now? Well honestly…I think it is because we are often lazy and it is easier (I know, that is pretty negative take).
In the end, the happy medium of what friendship and community truly is for those online is somewhere in the middle.
