Until I discovered blogging I found the whole concept of making friends online a little odd. Spending hours talking to a stranger, sharing stories and details that you may not even have told to your best friend, feeling a connection with someone you had never met, it just didn’t seam possible.
Then I joined twitter. I connected with fellow bloggers, read the stories of their lives, saw photos of their children, it was like I knew them. I started to share too, a few snaps on Instagram, a tweet about my day, a discussion in a Facebook group, before I knew it I was hooked. Over time the same faces would pop up, common views and interests were found. I began to find myself thinking about them when offline, eager to find out how their day went, how their holiday was, what new clothes they had bought. I thought of these people as my friends, yet I had never met them.
With event invites starting to come my way I was lucky enough to put names to these faces. We got to chat in real life (it is always the accents that throw me – some people just don’t sound how I imagined them to from their tweets). I felt part of the blogging community, I had friends, it was nice.
Things have progressed now, some of my ‘blogging friends’ have become just ‘friends’, we no longer cling to our blogs as the common ground in our friendships, we have formed bonds further than that. In a industry (and I do believe blogging is an industry) that can be so isolated, just you, your thoughts, and a laptop, it is so nice to find colleagues you get on with.
Over the next two weeks I am having coffees, drinks and dinners with 3 separate groups of blogging friends. I find it so thrilling to be surrounded by such inspiring, intelligent, woman. They make me a better person just by being in their company.
If you had asked me three years ago would I go for dinner with someone I had met online the response would have been an eye roll and a sarcastic remark. Little did I know what I was missing out on.
I took the plunge, stepped out of my comfort zone, joined the 21st century and started making friends online – and boy am I glad that I did.
It’s so true isn’t it? I also thought it was a bit weird, but now some of my blogging friends are real life ones. I love it, it is inspiring and great to have common interests. Would love to meet you for coffee soon, maybe one time I come and see Lucy. x
I know – blogging/twitter has been so great for making like minded friends. and yes coffee when you are next down this way sounds amazing xx
I think of other bloggers as being like work colleagues too. Twitter is like the staff room banter, which was the only bit I really missed about work when I stopped. I still can’t believe the real friends I’ve made online, like you I would have rolled my eyes and mocked the whole thing before I was a part of it, and I’d have been missing out. x
Yes I only missed the staff room banter (oh and the christmas dos) when I left work. We must re arrange that coffee when the little ones are back to 100% xx
yep! Exactly like you, thought this whole making friends on line was a but odd and frankly silly!
But I consider blogging friends amongst some of the closest I have now. And it’s wonderful that some many of them are close by so we can do things face to face as well as over twitter! We definintley need an Essex girls get together!
I never imagined I would meet friends online but I have made some great friendships that way. Blogging is amazing in so many ways x
sure is x