I had two people approach me today and say something like (in the course of conversation): “it’s weird, because I read your blog and feel like in many ways we’ve already moved past the acquaintance / getting to know you stage… but I don’t have one or you don’t read mine so we aren’t on equal footing”.
Yes, weird.
To me, the part about feeling like you knew someone was spot on. I often go to conferences and meet people I read for the first time and we immediately become engrossed in conversation. No awkward “hey, how are you” and “who do you work for” and “what kind of deodorant do you use” kinds of questions. Just straight down to discussing what we’re both passionate about.
But, in this case, it was one-sided. I mean, I knew the people’s names, and they seemed like really nice folk that I’d like to get to know more eventually, once the opportunity came up…
Yeah, good times. Blogging: reducing the distance between us, and helping people make friends much more easily 
February 5th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
Yep, this has happened to me plenty of times!
February 6th, 2006 at 8:28 am
This topic comes up at blogmeets. The rather odd experience of meeting people you know a lot of stuff about but don’t really ‘know’. It makes the initial openings in conversations a little stilted as you immediately discount the basic things like name, occupation, and general interests… Can be quite challenging if you only read their blog occasionally mind you!
February 6th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
Just finished reading you Blog Marketing book…congrats…terrific piece of work on both strategic and tactical level.
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