LIVING thousands of kilometres away from many of my family and friends, I was immediately attracted to the merits of Facebook when I was introduced to the phenomenon about two years ago.
It's been a great tool to keep my overseas family and friends up to date with what we're up to "Down Under".
These days, I use it just as much to communicate with people a bit closer to home. While I don't communicate regularly with all my 212 friends - who range from my very close friends and relatives to colleagues, old school friends, university mates and the occasional
heart-breaker from a previous life - it allows me to have an idea of what they're up to.
Some experts may say that the quality of these relationships is not as high as conventional friendships, but I would argue that some of them are.
Sure, in some instances, I've only befriended someone to sticky-beak at where they are today or to avoid conflict, but in most cases, I genuinely care for these "friends".
Even when that friendship has faded because of time and distance, it sure puts a smile on my face to see what they're up to these days and offers an opportunity to reminisce about different eras of my life.
In the few instances where I haven't met them in real life - as is the case with some mothers I've met through a different online forum when we were all expecting our now nearly-two-year-olds - I actually feel like they know me better than some of my good real-life friends.
Email a friend