Are Social media friendships for real?

Friendships are fascinating; Ain't it? 

Who was your first friend? Do you remember your first friend? When you were still learning the art of walking and talking. Are you still in touch with them? I'm one of the lucky few for whom the first friendships have stayed on. 'S' was a friend even before I knew it. We were 2 then. She is the big doc now; But for me, she is still the 'S' I know. For more than 30 years. 

'J', was the first friend I made in the real world; The world outside the campus we lived in. Who was yours? Do you remember your early conversations? 'J' stuck on too! After so many years, we still talk nonsense, as only friends can.

When did you talk last to your primary school bestie? Sadly 'Be' my BF from school lost touch! Life happened I presume! The senior school besties 'B' and 'T' stick on. Few fell along the way though. College and work? But for few, not many has stuck on. Friendships are such I suppose.  

Through the growth process, we call life, people come in and go. Circumstances bring us together to a few; 'S'  would never have been friends with me, if her dad not chose to live next door. 'J' went to the same church. 'B' studied with me in the same school and 'T' played on the basketball team as I did. 'Circumstances'; That is the word; The word which brought as together. Someone else was deciding my acquaintances, rather friends. Providence. Luck. Parents. Work & Study place. Whatever. 

Then social media happened. By preference, Twitter happened. 

Suddenly the person I talk to on Twitter does not know me. Neither the fact that I'm fat and ugly. They know my views. Just my ideas, beliefs and principles. And we become friends. Not by circumstance. But by choice. I get to pick and choose people who speak my language; who has my belief system; who could understand my principles and ideologies. 

Isn't that a paradigm shift in relating to people? 

Suddenly, I realized my friends on SM have more variety to life than those I had known forever. There is a CA, a banker, a bird watcher and an IT professional. Circumstance did not take me through any of these. 

I'm still a beginner in SM friendships. I cannot confidently say I have found friends for life on Twitter. A few may become Best friends for life. I don't know. But I'm sure I have seen and talked to a few who have found real joy in friendships online. 

Are ideologically similar relationships better? Can friendships be beyond ideologies and principles of life in the first place? 

I'm not giving up the 'S' and 'J' and every other beautiful people which life threw at me. I'm sure life's circumstance will flip a few more along the way. I still find it difficult to relate to people who I could never see; I'm sure there are a few wonderful friends out there, who I will make. I'm learning; I'm learning. But the shift is for real. 

Friendships on SM is here to stay and from what I know, is beautiful in its own way.