Bookish Thoughts / General Books

Let’s Talk Bookish: Making Friends Through Blogging

Dini @ dinipandareads33 Comments

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits, and it’s where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! If you want to join in the bookish discussion fun, check out the May 2022 prompts!

Now without further ado… The topic asks us about:

Making friends through blogging…

(SUGGESTED BY RACHEL @ A BOOKWORM’S PARADISE)
Prompts: Is blogging a good platform for making friends? Is it only new bloggers that are going to make friends with one another? Does blogging allow for connecting with people of different ages and different backgrounds? How easy or hard has it been for you to make friends through blogging?

BLOGGING AS A PLACE TO MAKE FRIENDS

I don’t know why it’s (still) surprising to me but I do think blogging is a good platform for making friends. I had a personal blog for several years before I took a break and started book blogging but even though I didn’t have as much engagement on that blog, I still managed to make a few good friends who I’m still in touch with now!

Something that I’ve found increasingly more difficult as I get older is making friends IRL (I feel like such a flop saying that but it’s true, lol) and while I don’t think making friends online is a breeze, I do think that having that digital barrier makes it a little less intimidating? I also think that connecting via a platform like blogging is easier because you’re interacting based on something you’ve read/seen that interests you too.

GLOBAL CONNECTIONS

I definitely think that it’s easier to make connections with people from different backgrounds and ages because that’s not the main focus of blogging and so that’s secondary to whatever you’re connecting over. I do think there are different cliques within the community though and I think the age/backgrounds can change depending on what genre(s) you read and what group you interact with more. As someone who dabbles in just about every genre and doesn’t specifically focus on romance or fantasy, I’ve found it’s easier to connect with people over a wider range of books.

This it totally random but I personally love checking out the country statistics on my blog and seeing where my visitors are from—unsurprisingly, most are from the US/UK but I’ve got views from the most random places too, like Macedonia, Martinique, Bhutan, and Kazakhstan amongst others.

IT HASN’T BEEN SUPER EASY BUT ITS BEEN FUN!

I feel like I got a little lucky when I first started blogging because I immediately connected with a few new bloggers and their enthusiasm made me feel less hesitant to put myself out there while blog hopping and really engage and interact with others. I wouldn’t say its been particularly easy to make new friends but I’d like to say that I have made a few over the years and I just hope that they enjoy interacting with me as much as I do with them! 😅

There are always so many new faces and I can hardly keep up with the blogs I follow as it is most of the time, but I try to blog hop and discover new bloggers as often as I can. I don’t think only new bloggers are capable of making friends but I think it does depend on how much you engage/interact! I love finding new content with similar tastes as me and it’s great when the engagement becomes mutual; sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t and that’s okay.

I have to say that I really appreciate all the bloggers who have become friends and who take the time to engage on a regular basis both on the blog and through Twitter. I hope you know how you are and know that I appreciate you all so much!!! 💜

Do you think the blogging platform is a good place to make friends? Have you made any good friends on here or do you struggle to connect with others?

33 thoughts on “Let’s Talk Bookish: Making Friends Through Blogging”

  2. Like you, I love interacting with people all over the world (and all ages). I also look at my stats of where viewers come from ☺️. I think when you are an adult friends are more fleeting as it becomes harder to find time to catch up with people you don’t see on a regular basis. Each transition (different job, different home, different life stage) means starting over again in terms of making friends. When you blog, those transitions only exist if you stop blogging. So, blog friends become one of life’s rare constants (or as close to it as you can get). Excellent post ❤️

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    • I do agree that it’s harder to find time to catch up with everyone since everyone is busy doing their own thing. I’m just glad that the friends that I’ve made in my uni years have become my ride or die besties and even if we don’t catch up every day, it’ll be like picking up where we left off when we do reconnect again! I never thought about blogging friends in the way you pointed out but you’re so right, and I love it! 😃 Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Tessa!

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  4. One of my favorite things about blogging is making friends of varying backgrounds and ages. It’s been so awesome getting to know you better over time, Dini! I love chatting books with you and hearing about all the places you’ve lived and your experiences.

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    • I think you were one of my first blogging friends in the community and I’m so thankful for how friendly and engaging you were! I’ve loved getting to know you better over time as well, Ali! 💜

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  5. Making new blogging friends has definitely been one of the main highlights for me. I’ve enjoyed getting to meet readers of all ages from all over the world. It helps to get me out of that bubble I can sometimes find myself in. You were one of the first bloggers who was so very welcoming to me and I’ll never forget that. ❤

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    • I agree, it’s been one of the main highlights for me as well! It’s so nice to meet so many people from everywhere and I love connecting with people that I probably otherwise never would’ve had the chance to. I’m so glad that we’ve connected through blogging—I love your content and I hope we’ll stay connected for years to come! 😊

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  6. It IS so much harder to make new IRL friends when you are older. I related hard to that as I was much younger mom when my daughter was small and moms usually all make friends. I do consider my regulars to be my friends. I remember how touched I was when everyone got together when Grace was sick and passed away. I really felt the strength of the community during that time.

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    • I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one who has felt that way about making friends IRL! It’s really amazing how this community connects and can band together, which really shows how deep connections can go 🙂 It’s so wonderful that we get to be a part of it all!

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  7. Making blogging friends has been one of my favorite things. I never thought I’d make friends with other readers from around the globe. As an introvert, this has been the best way to connect with people. And I’ve loved getting to know you and buddy reading with you!

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    • It’s been one of my favourite things too! I love how much easier it’s made it to make friends globally. I’m quite the socially anxious introvert IRL and so it’s always tougher for me but I seem to have less of a problem through online platforms like blogging. I’ve loved getting to know you more and buddy reading with you too, Julie! 😍

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  9. Blogging is definitely a good way to make friends. Some of the people i met through common passion for reading became my friends in real life and though we read less these days, we still talk about books and life.

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    • It’s so awesome that the online friendship translated to real-life too and that you’re still in touch now! 😍 I know that there are a few friends that I’ve made on here that I’d love to actually meet IRL one day. It’s so great making friends who love books as much as you do!

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  10. I’ve made friends on the internet through various platforms but I think blogging is the best. While I also met some great people elsewhere who have the same interest, we bloggers have a lot more in common than the average other internet user. I have found some great penfriends as well as real life friends. There are not that many in Europe but I already met one of them and I know some more will follow after Covid.

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    • I’ve made a few friends through social media (but also book-related) though I do agree that blogging has been the best and probably the easiest to form that connection. I hope you will get the chance to meet more of your penfriends in the future, Marianne! 😊

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    • Same, Deanna! I’m so glad that I’ve connected with you through blogging and our love of romances! 😍 It really is great to find readers who like reading similar books. I know I don’t have enough bookish friends IRL, so it’s awesome to meet others through platforms such as blogging!

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  15. “Is blogging a good platform for making friends?”
    Hi from Italy! I can relate to everything you said. I’m old enough to remember finding pen pals via magazines (more about my age in a minute) and bonding over a shared love for the same singer. Book blogging (with related social media) has definitely replaced it. Like you, I have a problem with making IRL friends, for a number of reasons, but my fellow book bloggers are my friends – also because, contrarily to most people you meet, they don’t judge and respect your privacy, but are happy to listen if you want to talk…

    “Is it only new bloggers that are going to make friends with one another?”
    I don’t know, but I’m an old blogger (with almost ten years of blogging under my belt) and I’m always happy to make new friends 🙂.

    “Does blogging allow for connecting with people of different ages and different backgrounds?”
    Definitely! I’m 55 (*GASP*) and I have friends of all ages, from a number of countries and from different ways of life. The funny thing is, most of my blogging pals read different books than I do (I specialise in YA and adult speculative fiction, while I don’t read romance, historical or straight-up fantasy), but we get along beautifully nevertheless…

    “How easy or hard has it been for you to make friends through blogging?”
    It took a while, until I started commenting more regularly (and I set up a Twitter account to go with the blog), but I do have at least a couple of friends from my first days of blogging – one of them is 56 and the other is 25…

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    • Although I’m “only” 34, I do remember making pen pals through school letter writing exchange programs, and it was so much fun! I love how much easier it has been to make friends online through blogging and its related social media platforms—I do agree that they’re less judgy and more respectful (or maybe it’s just because people IRL simply tire me? 😂). I hope one day I’ll also have 10 years under my belt (that’s amazing, btw!) and some people might even call me a blogging veteran four years in, but I’m always happy to make more blogging friends! I say we can never have enough bookish friends and I think being able to connect through books, in general, is already wonderful (even if you end up having different reading tastes)! Having social media certainly helps with connecting even more with followers and those who already regularly interact with the blog. I know it has also helped me too!

      I loved reading your responses and thanks so much for sharing your answers and taking the time to connect and comment on my post. 🥰

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  17. I agree! I have made many friends blogging and it’s all about engaging and interacting. I just discovered your blog and I love it!

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  18. One of my goals in becoming a blogger was to connect with people with similar interests. I’m very much an introvert so I find it hard to make friends.

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