I completely understand the urge to connect to online friends in some more tangible (or, old-school?) way, like by sending a postcard or chatting over a cup of coffee. My online friends feel just as real as my neighbors and co-workers -- sometimes moreso -- which creates a warm feeling of community in queasy contradistinction to the fact that I don't really know any of you. At least not in the traditional sense. 

In college, my friend Eric and I discovered that we had very different goals and motives for our social interactions. He liked keeping friends and acquaintances in isolated bubbles, well-defined spheres such as "science-lab acquaintances, "old friends from high school," and "college dorm friends." On the other hand, I really enjoyed mixing my different crowds, blending and juxtaposing colorful characters from all aspects of my life. We discovered this after he marveled that I knew the names of people who worked in the shops near our college, and I wondered aloud why I'd never met his Mom when she lived less than ten miles away.

We decided I like a "fluid" social life, and he likes a "segmented" one, and it became a long-standing joke between us that explained a lot of things over the years. I tell this story because my online friends feel like the newest extension of my desire for a fluid life. If I like someone, I want all the other people I like to know about them and like them, too. Online interaction creates these circles of common affection and makes them easier to find and form. And yet I'm still occasionally plagued by the notion that these friendships are somehow less-than -- shadowy and tenuous at best, completely Matrix-y and artificial at worst.

A while back on twitter, @swallner and @kt_writes were sharing thoughts about motherhood or managing a household or something, and I was struck by the Six Degrees quality of the connection: @swallner is the sister of @amyjones65 who I met when I joined a book club years ago with @warnoj, one of my best friends. I'm @bookhouseboy, and I went to grad school with @heathra, who is good friends with @bill_of_lading, brother of @kt_writes. These people live in four different states. I've never met the people on either end of this chain face to face, but through twitter, I feel I know them well. Both of them are connected to me through chains branching in completely different directions.

That @swallner and @kt_writes can share joys and frustrations and find common ground, thousands of miles apart and without even knowing how they got connected, is a powerful new part of the human story, one that excites me a lot. Millions of these Six Degrees connections must happen every day, helping people feel more loved and appreciated, less isolated and misunderstood. And that's the most human kind of interaction I can imagine, even if it happens through high-tech media and machines.

Wait... I was just supposed to say a few facts about me, right?? Sorry. 

1. I'm a former English teacher turned school librarian.
2. I love taking long road trips alone, as long as friends await at the other end.
3. A little part of me is always longing to return to Disneyland.