Written by:
2010/07/13 06:15 PM 

This is a guest post by Mike CJ

I have a really good mate who lives in South Africa. I've been “introduced” to his wife and kids. I knew all about it when he went on his recent road trip, and also got the full story when he went on vacation in the UK. I shared his excitement when The World Cup was happening in his country, and overall, I know as much about him and his life as I do about my friends who live in the same town as I do.

But I've never met him!

He could turn up at my house tomorrow and he'd be welcome to stay as long as he liked. He could ask for help, and if it was within my power, he'd get it.

And I know he would always do the same for me.

And yet I've never met him!

I'm sure you'll have realised that I'm writing about Robert. He's never failed to help me, advise me and just be “on my side.” So today, when I received this tweet from him:

I knew I needed to spring into action. Hence this post.

People often talk about “real friends” as opposed to “online” friends. But do they know what they're talking about?

Let's take a real friend of mine as an example. I've known Alan for almost ten years. He's probably my closest friend here on the island. We dive together most weeks, twice a month we meet for coffee, and about once a month we get together with our wives for a barbecue or a party somewhere. But you know what? In between those times we never see each other. We don't talk on the phone, unless it's to arrange something, and we never email. I have no idea what he does from day to day.

But with my online friends, like Robert, I chat with him every single day. We tweet, we email, we meet each other on other blogs in comments. He comes to my site every day, and I go to his.

In short, I know what's going on in his life and his business, in almost every detail. And that fosters the strongest relationship you can imagine. A true friendship with mutual respect.

Social media is the most incredible tool. Yes, it's great for business and business relationships. But it can also create long term, lasting friendships that generate a support network all around the world.

And that's priceless, and potentially world changing.

I hope the pain subsides, and I look forward to you being able to write again soon, my friend.

You can find Mike at Mike's Life, where he helps new and learning bloggers to understand how to generate a long term, sustainable income as a blogger.

Twitter: @mikecj

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