the story of: blog friends

This month's story of the Wind in the Willows features some animal friends who spend a lot of time together. There have been times in my life that I've had friends like this...we had hours and hours of doing things, laughing, sharing, you name it. These days, it's harder for me to get together with people in person, and more and more, I've met people online who I will never meet in "real life".

It brings up a question, which I asked my sponsors: Do you think that blog friends are real friends? Why or why not? I'd love to hear your answer too, so let us know what you think!


Talia: Yes! If it makes you feel better, imagine they're 'real life' friends that just live far away! Blog friends are great support and understand this unique part of your life that other friends might not!


Amy: Blog friends are ABSOLUTELY real friends! That's part of the magic of the internet, isn't it? Finding new people that you may never have met otherwise and discovering that you have a whole world of things in common. Kam (of CampfireChic) and Justine (of A New Beginning) have been teaming up over the last 8 months to put together 30DaysofLists.com - talking on email every day, meeting all over the SoCal area, and even texting. No one else in my "real life" understands my blogging and #30Lists, but these girls totally do!


Harmony: I absolutely believe that blog friends can become real friends. I have quite a few wonderful people in my life that I met at first through my blog. It's not something that happened automatically though. It's something that I had to work at and put priority on to develop the relationship just like with my "real" friends that I see in person. Checking in with each other, personal emails, following each other's blogs and facebook pages responding genuinely to what they share about their lives and genuinely sharing with them parts of yours. These are the ways that I found true connection and a authentic relationship of friendship develop without ever meeting face to face.


Inari: I think most of the blog friends are frengers: not quite friends, not quite strangers. Someone you communicate with frequently but don't know that well in the end. However, with more interaction some of them can become real friends, even very good and close ones. With some people you just "click", and that can definitely happen in the blog world as well. I have met lovely girls via blogging, and I know people who've found their soul mates that way. Blogging world is full of possibilities :)


Rebekah: I have only really got back into blogging in the last couple of months and I can honestly say I am overwhelmed by how helpful people are, just but giving some advice and feedback to blog posts or just being introduced to new and exciting blogs. I don’t have any ‘blog friends’ myself, but it is early days as yet. Saying this though, there is quite a lot of blogs I follow, and it is nice to read about people referring to other bloggees, or meeting with other bloggers, especially when I am already a reader of the other persons blog too. It is like a little community of web friends and followers.

I think blog friends can be classed as ‘real friends’ because the way I see it, it is easy to communicate these days; email, texting, skype…and I do this with friends that I do not get to see much anymore because people move away etc; so the principle is quite similar, like a long distance friendship I suppose, except you get to know someone perhaps firstly by reading and following their blog.


Jessica: I think my blog friends are real friends because we obviously have similar interests & we enjoy keeping up with what's happening in each others' lives. Anyone that I like keeping up with & chatting with is a friend in my book!


Kam: I believe that blog friends can be real friends, in fact, one of my favorite quotes is, “Facebook is for friends who have become strangers, and Twitter is for strangers who have become friends”. I think the best example I can give is my friendship with Amy of Lemon and Raspberry and Justine of A New Beginning: We e-met last summer via our blogs and ended up meeting in person this spring after finishing up our collaboration on the first round of 30 Days of Lists. We had a day-long meeting at Amy’s house earlier this summer to plan the second round of 30 Days of Lists and we tweet and text! We worry about one another if there has been radio silence for a few days, have inside jokes, the whole works! I have also gone on a camping trip with another blog friend (who has also met up with Justine a few times!). I know we would’ve been friends had we met in a different way, but meeting online makes the first face-to-face meeting less awkward…it’s like having lunch with a friend you haven’t seen in a while! I also feel like distance doesn’t need to be a factor, I am in contact with people from all over that I would consider my friends…If I was to get married next month, I would be meeting some of the people on the invite list for the first time while in my wedding dress ;)


Claire: No I wouldn't say blog friends.. I consider a friend someone I can sit down and have a cup of tea with! Although I probably could sit down with lots of my readers and chat for ages but there are a lot of people coming and going in blog land and it's hard to keep up! I do have a few blog friends I have been talking too and commenting regularly on their blogs since we started blogging over a year ago and we took the same online course - I would be closer to them but unless I'm conversing regularly or meeting up it's not a true friendship I don't think. The support and kindness in blog land is wonderful and the more friendships the better! If people are close by and can arrange crafty meet ups I think it would be fabulous!


Andee: I think definitely blog friends are real friends! One of the things that's so great in the 'blog world' vs. the 'real world' is how many women I've met who are just like me! Not always the case in the 'real world' (not that blogging isn't real, but you know what I mean.) In 'blog world' I've been blessed to meet so many women who love Jesus, love their husbands, love crafts and being at home. With these women I share who I really am, and they share who they are. We are honest. We are transparent. Friendship. For real.


Anita: I think that blog associations have as much possibility of becoming a genuine friendship as does any other form of social interaction. If you have a positive and honest connection with another person for whom you have regard and respect that is reciprocated, it's a friendship. The vehicle for the exchange; in person over the phone or internet, is irrelevant.


Kerry: I have come to know a number of people through the wonderful world of blogging and social media and although I may never meet them in person, I do think they are becoming my friends. We share common interests, thoughts and ideas about things that interest us and so have formed a friendship based on a mutual respect and admiration for each other. To me, blog friends are real friends, they are just a different type of friend to ‘real life’ friends. I believe you get different things from different people. For example, my ‘real life’ friends don’t share my passion for handmade crafts but they know me better than anyone else and we have some fantastic times together. My blog friends, know my crafty side and will happily talk about what crochet stitch would work best to finish off a blanket, or what type of fabric is best to make a shopping bag with. Different things, from different people and that’s what I love best!

Thanks, Friends! I'm so glad to hear that a whole new community has been formed, and it's making real friends, near and far!