Image by David Cowan (www.freeimages.com)

Is the Blogosphere real? Are bloggers real people?

Well, of course they are. What a ridiculous question.

However…

I am willing to bet any blogger who has ‘met’ another blogger in the Blogosphere, were they to meet in person, would be apprehensive. Is the person I know in the Blogosphere the real person?

I’ve got to know some fabulous people through this blog and was particularly touched by the care and love sent my way when my father died recently. The Blogosphere actually became a place of sanctuary for me when things got difficult. And yet I wouldn’t know many of you if you came and knocked on my door and tried to sell me fertilizer. Mainly because I probably wouldn’t open the door. But if I did, I still wouldn’t realise who you were until you introduced yourself. How weird is that?

Two of my blogging mates – Joanne and Maggie – recently decided to meet up in person. Both admitted to some nervousness. Would the person they ‘knew’ from their blogs be the same in the flesh? Fortunately, they got along in the ‘real’ world just as well as they do in the Blogosphere. (You can read about it here and here.)

I’ve shared some hilarious and stimulating conversations with my mate M-R – she of the soon-to-be-separated book blog and ‘other’ blog (link pending when she gets her act together) – through the comments of our posts. Lately, they’ve got so out of hand we’ve occasionally had to delete the comments so as not to confuse other commenters. She has become a dear friend. And yet we have never actually met.

Today, in order to assist with a technical matter without clogging up the comments on her blog, we agreed to talk on the telephone. (It was a quicker and cheaper option than jumping on a ‘plane which I briefly considered.)

Was I nervous? A bit.

Would we get on ‘in person’ as well as we do out here in Virtual Land?

Of course we did.

M-R in person – well, in ‘voice’ – was still the person I know in the Blogosphere.

I hope she found the same.

In thinking about this other dimension I ‘live’ in and who I am within it, I realise I am most probably more me here than I am in many other parts of my life. I have always found it easiest to communicate via the written word than the spoken. Some friends who know me in person will attest to my penchant for sending “oh, I should have said” emails after we have conversed. In a world where all my communication is done via my fingertips on a keyboard, I get all the necessary words out.

Still, as much as I love to hang out here in the Blogosphere with you all, one day I do hope to travel to all the places you are and meet you in person because I’m willing to bet the person you are out here is the person you truly are within and I know we’d get along bloggishly.

Also, free accommodation.