Friends from Blogging

13 Oct 2023 | ~2 minute read

I've been lucky enough to make a number of friends off the back of this blog (and also their blogs). This is a bit of a feel good post about how social media isn't the only way to meet new people.

I've talked at length about my challenges with social media/microblogging vs traditional blogging, to which I generally get responses similar to this:

But Kev, social media is great way of meeting new people.

-- Social media person

I agree, social media person, it is a great of meeting people, but so is a blog. And for me, the interactions that come off the back of this blog are generally far deeper than those from social networks/mocroblogging.

I'm gonna use the term microblogging throughout the rest of this post. What I mean by that is social media and all related services. For example, Mastodon, Twitter, Blue Sky, Threads etc.

Microblogging is like passing someone in the corridor - you quickly exchange pleasantries, maybe stop and talk for a minute on the way to the loo, or to grab a coffee, but that's it. The interaction goes no further than that.

On the other hand, emailing is like going for a coffee with someone. You spend time together. You have a proper conversation. It's a deeper, more interesting connection.

I much prefer the latter.

Reply by email

When I replaced comments with a reply by email button a couple years ago, I was able to start going for virtual coffees with other people. Some people email me now and then, other people have become legitimate friends whom I email on the regular. Both scenarios are throughly enjoyed by me.

So I wanted to list out some of the friends I've made off the back this whole blogging lark. In alphabetical order:

• Garrit Franke
• Jan-Lukas Else
• Jatan Mehta
• Joost van der Schee
• Luke Harris
• Manu Moreale
• Nathan DeGruchy
• Nicolas Magand
• Niq
• Pete Moore
• Ray

This is just a list of people off the top of my head (I'm sorry if I missed you, it wasn't intentional). The fact that I can list 11 people off the top of my head, is a testament to how much deeper the email interactions I have go, over microblogging.

I usually get a few emails for every post I publish. My more popular posts can positively swamp my inbox, to the point where it can take me a few days to catch up. Actually, I just searched my mailbox for any email sent to the address I have published on this site...it's over 700 emails!

I love the internet. I love blogging. And I love meeting new people.

Long may it continue...

• Blogging
• Fun
• Meta