Meet My Fake Friends
The group above are some of the twitter folks I follow.
That snapshot represents a vast array of people.
My best friend from the past 16 years.
A mentor from the past 4.
A guy I started a web biz with whom I’ve never seen face to face.
A girl who sent me her blackberry when mine broke.
A guy whom I have never spoken with yet admire his work.
All these are my friends.
But I get lots of, and let me use a new term the North Pointers like to throw around, Push Back from people when I tell them of my online relationships.
I’ve never actually used that word in a real life sentence.
But since I’m typing this I guess this wouldn’t count as real life because you are reading it online right?
[sarcasm noted]
I hope and pray that as people continue to dive into this lame attempt of authenticity called Ragamuffin Soul that they start to see it.
Real people, Real relationships, Real Stories.
I used to be able to count on one hand how many people would take their shirt off their back for me.
After this experiment called Ragamuffin Soul, that number can be counted on at least 2 hands.
Kidding.
There are hundreds and I would do the same for them.
Lots of people argue that this online world we live in NEEDS to steer people towards actual face to face encounters.
I disagree.
Those are nice too.
But you can be just as fake in my face as you can be behind that 18″ of glowing LCD in front of you.
I once had a friend named Charles.
We watched Stand By Me in the 5th grade, walked out behind the house, placed a knife in our palms, cut some skin, winced like sissies, and shook hands.
Looking back as an adult I remember feeling more alive in that moment than I had in my previous 10 years on earth.
Blood Brothers.
I still get that same feeling every once in a while.
Only now I bleed ones and zeros.
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
Some of my blog friends have been so supportive and encouraging, and my faith has grown as a result of some of these friendships.
I’m grateful for this avenue of making friendships….
Preaching to the choir here. I think of you as a friend, even though we see each other a couple times a year–more than some I see much more often this. You can have my shirt if you need it.
i love that my new fishy’s picture is on your blog as my profile picture.
and yes, i am in like-love with my online relationships. i have learned more about myself and about God and about life from the vast variety of people i would have never, ever met if it hadn’t been for the internet. you and your family are just one of them. the relationships are real and they truly mean something to me.
Amazing…I think on of my favorite things about the blogging and twittering atmosphere is that you can be challenged by others who are not like you. They think and see things differently from you and can challenge you in some areas. I have learned to be willing to change and sometimes others can lead you to that.
Thanks for sharing Los.
I’m with you Carlos, absolutely. It’s an odd form of community that I am grateful for right now, especially since my life and schedule are in such an upheaval at the moment.
I do, however, feel lucky to call you a friend in REAL life, too.
P.S. When are we getting together for dinner?
I had a comment, but Crystal Renaud’s pretty much sums it up.
bro… this all started for me back in the early 90’s when a kid in my youth group asked my permission to give an online friend of hers my IM screen name ’cause she didn’t know how to help her deal with some relationship stuff she was going through. i’ve never met this kid face to face, but 13 years later we still stay in touch (and she recently married a great Christian guy, so mission finally accomplished!). it’s been amazing thru the years from IMing, to myspace and facebook and now blogging the awesome relationships i’ve built with people i’d never otherwise “met.” and now thru folks like mark lee and jon from “stuff christians like” (both of whom i do not know personally either, but read them regularly) i’ve been keeping up with your exploits. small world and getting smaller. btw, looks like your sitemeter will be turning over 1 million pretty soon. go los!
I love the tagline! I’m with you too. Twitter and blogging has lead to some awesome relationships. In fact, I just met one of your “real-life” friends today. All because of the blog. Gotta love those 1s and 0s!
Carlos, i know you have no idea who i am but i just want you know know that you are an inspiration to me and all i know of you is what you blog and tweet.
thanks for sharing your life
Rich
Good point! Lots of people are trying to argue that you need to have face to face connection, but I think your blog is proof that you don’t, and it still works.
los
the palm of my right hand is cut and I’m ready to shake.
i’d go to war with you….!
Lichty
I am meeting a Canadian blogger today, she is in Ireland for a while so it DOES happen & it rocks! Los, you are doing a great great job. I did weep a little when i saw that my face was not on that image but il get over it and try harder next time…………………….:)
I totally agree… I have met and made some nice friends online that I will probably never meet. I have worked for over a year doing consulting on one guys website, and I have never met him face to face, many of these people I consider good friends.
A little “old school” to some to not take a little time to understand the realities of friends made online.
Still waiting on you to follow me on Twitter. Come on dude…
Well written and I couldn’t agree more.
I feel like what was once my small, semi-dedicated circle of friends has expanded through this vast world of online relationships. I’ve “met” people that I wouldn’t have otherwise had the opportunity to meet, that have let me in to their lives and who I’ve let in to mine. To me it’s not a “network” of people whose names I can drop, it’s a family. It’s people who are willing to lend a hand from 900 miles away even if it’s through an AIM chat.
Thank you for this concise and poignant statement. It resonated with me immensely.
“only now I bleed ones and zeros” -it is time to start working on the 4th Matrix movie just for the purpose of using this quote. poetic.
Interesting. My men’s group meets on Monday nights and we did an exercise last week where we had to list the 5 people closest to us in our lives. This could include family or friends. I thought it was a little strange that I was fighting off blog friends in my mind…”No…they can’t be on the list, that’s just an online deal…”
We are living in an age of more photos being taken than ever in history and yet there are less actual “photographs” in the printed sense than ever. This doesn’t mean radical advancements aren’t taking place in the world of photography.
Very interesting thoughts. I’m one of the few in my circle of “real-world” friends that really gets into the bits and bytes of web 2.0 communities. Most just don’t really get it.
My 15 year old daughter however, doesn’t know any other world. I don’t think she makes much distinction between an online and real-world community – it’s all the same thing.
Exactly Ron.
And you daughter is going to be here long after us.
Well written. I have many friends, through online connections, that I have never met. They are relationships that, if they went away, I would be upset about. Thanks for writing this down.
*lifting a fake beer to toast my fake friend*
“To Los!”
*fake drinking my fake beer*
It really is amazing the community that is built over the web. Regardless if you ever meet these people, the community is real. There is proof all around us. God has blessed this world of blogging and online friendships.
Sweet stuff!!
http://www.vagabondrunn.wordpress.com
“But you can be just as fake in my face as you can be behind that 18″ of glowing LCD in front of you.”
So true. I sometimes wish a few people I ‘know in real life’ would start blogging so I could understand them more completely. Who would have thought?
I love this post and agree…the world has changed…and the defination of relationship, friend, and whatever else needs to change…
I have a degree but most of it I completled online…I can not tell you how many times I have to defend it in front of people who think it is fake…a degree from a univercity and it is not the same as someone sitting in a class…
The UMC where I am will only allow 4 classes of online instruction and discount the rest…
I cant wait until the peeps catch up with the rest of the world…
How often I moan in the white paper world…
like: hearing someone (way younger than I) say facebook is an personal ego-trip, while we were planning a worship element on God’s facebook…
Where else could I say: dang, dean@ 9:24 – we need to say hi over in SCL…
I’m new to ragagmuffin, but LOVING it. Particularly Creative Chaos…been looking for like minded freaky worship designers forever, then I found you here…
As an introvert, this trend in online community is great. I take the opportunity to share things on my blog or with twitter friends that I likely would not face-to-face. I’m not being fake with people; it’s just not my preference to be extremely vocal with a crowd of people. I am able to think through what I want to say beforehand and word it in the way that conveys my thoughts and feelings most accurately – something that is of value to those who are not verbal processors. Rather than seeing it as inauthentic, the online community just provides opportunity to develop relationship and get to know a particular angle of a person that may have not been seen previously.
you and a handful of other favorite blogs i read help strengthen my face to face relationships big time!
So how many of you have family like mine who are getting tired of words like these, “Well my friend from one of the blogs said…”
All of us KNOW…just absolutely KNOW… that these are real connections and real relationships that serve God’s purposes in amazing days. Want proof? Remember being stranded in the airport, Carlos? That was an online relationship translating into a real-world hotel!
I am treasuring each of the friendships I’ve made, and hope to connect even more.
hey, that’s me in the corner, in the upper left
I consider you a real friend, a real virtual friend. You’re not fake, or at least I hope not. I’m of the opinion that friends can be just as real in person or online, regardless of physical proximity or geography.