Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome my next guest blogger, Smacula!
So when Lacey asked me to write a guest post for her blog, I thought I'd write about Twitter friendships. Since I only moved to the country six years ago, and to Oxford two years ago, Twitter has played a big part in me making friends, not just in the city and the country, but all over the world. It is also interesting and close to me because I often have to face the question of how I have never met most of the people, how I don't even know if they are real people or not. Yet I have taken the leap of faith a few times, even travelled a few hundred miles to meet these people.
See in some ways I have always been more myself on Twitter than anywhere else. Not to mention the fact that there is a certain joy in giving away your secrets to complete strangers. In a weird and wonderful way, Twitter is our very own personal therapist, and our Twitter friends are our true friends, who see us fall down, have a laugh at our expense, then dust us and help us get back on our feet again.
I have been there myself, I have been helped, and hopefully few people would say that I have helped them too.
So why are Twitter friendships weirder than any other online or medium based friendships? As someone who has made really good friends through blogging, Facebook and even dating websites, I can only come up with a few. Is it the 140 character limit? Is it the fact that we hide behind self appointed nicknames or handles, or avatars? Is it because there are so many well known fake accounts? Or is it simply because Twitter is just too easy?
I can only assume that it is one of the above. However, the massive number of tweetups that happen all over the world goes to show that the trend is changing, or perhaps people who tweet are just forming an exclusive club of their own.
I am not qualified nor brave enough to draw any conclusions about the above. What I do know is that I have made some great friends through Twitter, Lacey obviously being one.
PS, there was also a chance that I'd cover Space Oddity by Bowie, or the subject of bloggers community that survives and the thrives on the Internet. As it turns out, I stuck to the actual topic I had decided on, but am sure that they will appear on my blog soon. Thanks for reading and would love to hear from all of you.
You can find Smacula on his blog, The Letters 'S' or on his Twitter account
