When we join Twitter, those who befriend us are labeled as “followers”. On Facebook, they’re “friends”.
With blogging, we often label fellow bloggers as “blogging buddies”.
But who are these people, really?
Today’s Lesson
In the comments of the The Cost Of Being Heard post Sara of A Sharing Connection said, in part,
One thing kind of bothers me about the subject of “real” friends and “online” friends I don’t see a great deal of difference, except I can’t see the online person. A friend is a friend. Friendship is about communication and sharing. So what if it’s not face-to-face?
Writing coach Davina of Shades of Crimson shared,
The only time when I feel funny talking to my offline friends about blogging is when I hear myself say, “My online friend so and so said…” It sounds like I have invisible friends, lol. …
In real life it’s easy to label someone we know. We’ll say, “my friend…”, or tag them with a descriptive title such as “my sister”, “my cousin” or “a co-worker.” and whomever we’re talking to, knows exactly who we’re talking about.
But what about the people we meet online? Who are they?
A friend? A follower? An online acquaintance? A fellow blogger? A blogging buddy?
Do we classify them differently because we’ve never met in person?
Are they an acquaintance or blogging buddy first, but after we’ve known them for a while, they earn the “friend” title?
Behind every blog, every Facebook post, and every tweet is a real person with real feelings. Real thoughts. Real emotions.
People just like us.
Although we can’t see them and may never meet them, via words, relationships form.
Are they less important than the relationships we have in the real world?
Maybe not.
Today’s Assignment
When talking to your real life friends about those whom you’ve met online, how do you describe them?
Do you think online and offline friendships/relationships can be equal?
Care to share?
Hi. I'm Barbara Swafford and I'd like to welcome you to Blogging Without A Blog. Grab a seat, share your thoughts and join in the conversation. 
When I started blogging in 2007, I didn’t see anyone else with the name of “Barbara” commenting on the blogs I frequented, so “Barbara” become the name I signed onto blogs with.
Within a short period of time that changed and I started seeing other commenters with the name Barbara.
By that time I knew I wanted to build my online presence so I added my last name.
Today’s Lesson
When I travel through blogosphere, I see many bloggers who only use their first name as their online identity.
It’s not that there’s anything wrong with that, however, it can be confusing, and can be a detriment.
Example: Let’s say your name is Clifford AND you don’t use an avatar*. You comment on blogs, build your online presence and soon become well known in your area of expertise. All is good in your world.
Than along comes another avatar-less Clifford, who begins to comment on the same blogs as you do, AND his blog is in the same niche as yours.
Those of us who follow links, may assume Clifford #1 and Clifford #2 are the same person.
They’re not. but we don’t know that because there’s little or no information to differentiate between the two.
The work Clifford #1 has put into developing his online presence could take a hit while Clifford # 2 could have just gotten an unexpected boost to his readership and reputation.
That said, I realize many bloggers choose not to use their real last names, nor do you have to.
Some choices are:
This can work well for those who blog anonymously, however if the day comes when you want to “come out”, it may be necessary to do a large “media” blitz to notify those who know you by your pen name so they continue to follow you.
Keep in mind, if you do this and you want to build an online presence, be consistent and use the same pseudonym on all blogs and social media sites you frequent.
Something like “Barbara @ BWAB” (Blogging Without A Blog) is something I had considered, however at that time I already had two blogs and wanted the option of linking to either one without changing my log in name.
This can work well, except it may appear impersonal to some.
Many bloggers like to use keywords to describe themselves and their sites, however depending on the keywords, your login name can appear spammy.
For anyone trying to build their online presence, the name we use becomes crucial as it can follow us forever on the world wide web.
What say you?
Today’s Assignment
How did you choose the name you use online?
Have you ever encountered confusion because two or more bloggers have the same name?
Care to share?
This post was inspired by part of what Kelvin Kao said in his comment on the *Who’s Who In Blogosphere post,