How did you meet your LJ friends?

[michaela3105]

Most of you will know by now that I'm working on my master thesis at the the moment. The working title (which changes frequently *g*) is "The emergence of hybrid relations through computer mediated communication". Long story short, it's about relationships and friendships that form through online communication. That's where I need your help and

Comments

[cologne_chick]

Okay, let's see...

Most of my friends I met via fandom, mayby they posted interesting stuff on communities, or they were friend's friends, they friended me first and I checked their userinfo - if it sounded interesting I friended back, or I met them via friending memes.

Some other friends I met an events like conventions and friended them after the event.

A few of my friends I have known in RL before and then they started a LJ too.

Does this help??? Or do you need to know more?

[michaela3105]

Thank you so much!

It's really interesting that shared interests and fandom in particular seem to be the origin of many online relationships. Friending memes are definitely something I sould look into for my thesis either. Thanks again. Your input will help a lot with the online questionnaire I'm planning. I really appreciate you taking the time!

[lostandalone22]

I've met the bulk of my friends through those friending meme things, but also, it seems like every time I post something to a comm, someone friends me, so I always friend them back. I only know two of my online friends through real life. One of Christina's friends and Christina are both on LJ.

Over on MySpace, though, my whole friends box is either my friends (from RL), Christina's friends, or friends I had in high school.

[michaela3105]

Thank you! I think it's really interesting that online relationships can have their origins either in real life or in online communication.

[tinkabell007]

are we talking just LJ friends? Otherwise I'd have two other examples about online friendship for you.

Oh and I love the couch header :D

[michaela3105]

Other online relationships are fine as well. Thanks for helping me out *hugs*

[tinkabell007]

Okay... ich hab damals meine beste Freundin über das Internet kennen gelernt. Wir waren beide am selben Forum und hatte eigentlich nie etwas miteinandern zu tun, haben nur immer wieder im selben thread gepostet. Irgendwann ergab sich mal ein Gespräch, dass dann später per pn weitergeführt wurde. Haben dann Instant Messanger Nummern ausgetauscht. Ja und mit der Zeit wurde es halt immer intensiver und man hat sich immer mehr erzählt. Irgendwann hab ich dann festgestellt, dass sie zu einer Person geworden ist, die wirklich am meisten über mich weiß, mich am besten kennt und wir uns oft schon ohne große Worte verstanden haben. Und da ich "beste Freunde" nicht damit definier wie oft wir rumhängen oder fortgehen, sondern inwiefern man mit der Person reden kann und sie für einen da ist, ist sie zu einer meiner besten Freundinnen geworden. Wir hatten uns bis dato immer noch nicht getroffen. (Das kam erst 4 (!!) Jahre später) Daher glaub ich auch, dass, wenn man die richtigen Leuten über das Internet kennenlernt, diese Freundschaft genauso

[vanee]

Great subject! Okay, as for me, I’ve been using the Internet for more than 12 years now. I even met one of my best “real-life” friends over the Internet. We used to be fans of a band and one day I got an e-mail from her offering some photos of that band. She had found my e-mail address via a forum of that band. Anyway, we exchanged e-mails and told each other about our lives, and it turned out we were living in the same city. So then we exchanged phone numbers and then met up, and what can I say, we became really good friends and have been ever since

[michaela3105]

Thank you so much for your detailed explanation. You brought up some very interesting points like "online friends are real friends" because in theory online relationships are supposed to be weak ties. Thanks again, I really appreciate it *hugs*

yay for online friends!
I couldn't agree more!!!

[zenamydog]

How??? Hmmmm, now let me see?

Go to Vancouver in March 08?? LOL

Sorry hon, I just couldn't resist.

Z
xx