Has anyone actually made a friend online?

[BeNimbleDenimRobin]

Just wondering, I see how easy online dating is to meet someone (not interested lol) but I’ve seen there’s bumble & sites for friends
not interested in it but just wondering if anyone ever met proper friends on bumble bff or something similar? Just curious to see what that is like nowadays x

Yes, through a local fb page designed for making friends.
Also I setup a few hobby/interest pages over Covid for people to meet up and have a few good friends from there.
All real life, face to face friends.

Yes I met my friend on a book board of a particular writer, although it was mainly book discussions all the group posted about various stuff. We had both been through a cancer scare at a similar time, and this 'bonded' us and we just clicked.

We keep in touch by email FB, IG and facetime, We have visited each other several times, one memorable holiday we met up with a few of the other bb members in Atlanta and had an amazing couple of days.

I consider her one of my closest friends even though we met later in life, and if we don't see each other for a year or so, it's as though there isn't any distance at all.

Yes, many over the years through various penpal sites and apps- try the app called "Slowly"

Yes, from various sites and we are real life friends too not just online.

Yes. Still an online friend of 15 years. Have never met in person

I made friends with a woman in Kentucky on a pet chat forum about 20 years ago, we used to chat most nights then after a year or so I went to stay with her and her husband for a week, I was mid 20's at the time and never flown before.
My Mum has since told me how much she worried about me and now I have kids of my own I can see why.
I did go and stay for another week a year later but over the years we've gradually lost touch.

I now have a group of online friends who I meet up with a few times a week in vr, they're a mixed bunch of adults from all around the world, we get together and play virtual paintball which is great fun.

Yes I met friends playing an online game about 10 years ago. I’ve met one in real life.

I made 2 very good friends through bumble bff. It’s defo worth a try!

I have. I put an ad up online looking for a friend and I met someone who has been my friend for almost 20 years. We hang out about once a month now but it was a little more often the first few years.

Also my realtor who I found online became a good friend, I actually bought a house a few hoses fow the road from her. 😀

Like other posters I made several friends through hobby forums. Then forums went out of fashion a bit and to save money many went onto FB and I stopped using them and didn't meet any new ones.

So yes some friends I've met online, just not through Bumble etc. It's only the same as sharing an interest offline and finding people to share that interest with.

Yep, I ‘met’ an Australian guy in a student chatroom about 13 years ago. We’ve always kept in regular contact and it’s only ever been strictly friendly, nothing more, but we have always confided in one another about the biggest things in our lives and have recently seen one another become parents, which is a lovely new chapter as we FaceTime with our babies now

Still feels quite surreal sometimes to have such a dear friend that I have never actually met in person!

I got chatting to someone on Bounty when our babies were tiny. Turned out she didn’t live a million miles from me and when we met at a group meet up, we just clicked and have been good friends for about 18 years now.

Another person with a load of forum friends of over 20 years. I've been all over visiting some of them.

This, apart from not all being in the same area.

Some friends I met here in MN, too.

Yes, but like many above it has been through a shared ‘interest’ (health condition) not a site for making friends. There’s about half a dozen of us who live all over the country and we meet up semi regularly, invited to each others weddings etc.

I have recently become good friends with another woman via a FB women's forum. We have a lot of very similar interests. She has travelled widely & I have a little so lots of sharing our favourite places. I've invited her to some local - other interest- groups I'm involved in too in so he is getting to meet more NZ women here as well

Lots of friends! Not through friendship sites but on forums. Years ago I made a bunch of friends on a forum connected to a bbc programme (anyone remember How To Start Your Own Country?), we had regular meet ups and I went travelling around the UK for a while with one friend I met there. Also made friends on another forum.
And when I was pregnant with my youngest I joined a reddit due date group, then a Facebook group was made and I made a group of friends there that I talk to every day (we have a group chat on messenger)

This is going to sound incredibly clueless and old-persony: I was always an early tech adopter (erm, back when that meant something) and met my DH on flickr in 2007 through our both following a mutual friend. Since then I've had no experience of meeting anyone online, dating or otherwise, as I was married until three years ago and then widowed with no desire to date. I'm still not ready for dating but I'd love to meet friends, so I signed up for Bumble BFF - and goodness, the whole swipe right/left thing is a shock. Is it really expected that you'll decide whether you want to be friends with someone based only on their profile photo, first name and job title? It's like everything negative I've heard about dating apps, but even sillier when applied to potential friends. How does this work for anyone, and do we really make up our minds about everyone in our lives based purely on how they look? It kinda makes me feel dirty, plus I've been unable to move past the first candidate as I know she'll see that someone rejected her and I don't want her to feel bad. It's brutal out there in algorithm land!