Michelle Boule, over on Techsource, blogs about real and virtual relationships.
This struck me as I have also been thinking about real and virtual relationships lately. I think Michelle is spot-on. I have friends who use technology to communicate, and those who don’t. The people who are online a lot and using various technologies to communicate, I know a lot better. I keep up with their lives more easily. The friends who aren’t online much are still extremely important to me, but I don’t see them as much and don’t know them as intimately as my online friends.
After reading the Techsource post, I started thinking about where I spend my time. I’m a heavy user of blogs and Twitter. I am on IM most of the day, and check in with Flickr daily. I respond to Facebook and LinkedIn whenever I get an email reminding me to check. I’m on a handful of other sites, but I use them less socially and with less regularity.
I know a lot of what’s going on (personally, professionally, or both depending on the person) with my blogging friends. I feel like I know where they are in the metaphorical sense as well as the literal. I’m ready for any conversations that we might have. I might not have an idea of the big picture issues with my Twitter friends, but I know what folks are doing throughout the day, if they have similar eating habits, when they work on a reference desk. Twitter gives you the intimacy that you have in college… where you know what your friends are up to most of the day, what your hallmates are having for lunch, or who has what test when. It’s hard to replicate that intimacy outside of the communal living experience of college. Twitter helps. I watch Flickr in my RSS reader, seeing where my friends go on trips or what conference a colleague might be participating in. I have a few friends where Flickr comments are our main method of communicating. I’ve recently been contacted for professional reasons through both Facebook and LinkedIn, meaning (for me) these networks might become a more critical part of my online presence.
As Michelle said in her Techsource post, seeing friends in real-life is important, and well, precious. But the online relationships are important, too. Thanks for the post!
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Comments 2
Don’t forget, now people can FOLLOW you in new ways, too! Keep on twittering!
Posted 26 Oct 2007 at 1:07 pm ¶Thanks Abby! Good point! The communication goes both ways!
Posted 29 Oct 2007 at 8:11 pm ¶Post a Comment