The line has blurred for me personally when it comes to in person connections vs. online ones. Perhaps it’s because I try at every opportunity to actually meet face to face with people I’ve met online. Perhaps it’s because, once I do meet them, I feel as if the connection has gotten deeper. You’re right..there’s nothing that compares to in-person human interaction. You can’t get that same connection through Skype, or Twitter, or even video chat.

I met my friend Jon Swanson face to face for the first time last week, after about a year of only knowing each other online. Until I spoke to him on the phone about 1/2 hour before our meeting, we’d only ever communicated in TEXT. That’s right – our ENTIRE friendship was based on text conversations. You and I were the same way, Danny, for about 6 months, remember? This small fact has not made us any less friends.

Jon summed it up brilliantly. He said that when you finally meet someone face to face, the conversation just continues in the physical world. Then once you move back to the online space, it just continues again. Same conversation. Different realms.

So I guess what I’ve learned is both types of relationships are equally meaningful and valuable. And I no longer categorize people into “online friends” and “in-person friends”. They’re all friends.