My wife likes to kid me about how many people I claim to know, but haven't actually physically met. These are people I've met through online forums or engaged in conversations on this or other blogs. Occasionally, while hanging out with my wife, I've let out a random chuckle, causing her to question my spontaneous laughter. She tends to look at me like I'm crazy when I explain to her that I was laughing about something a friend posted about in an online forum or blog.

She calls these people my "online friends" and seems skeptical of these types of relationships. She is an avid web user, but doesn't have -- or particularly want to have -- a network of "online friends."

I made my first "online friends" on a cross country skiing discussion group in the mid-90's called rec.skiing.nordic. I was racing in college at the time for the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, so discussion groups like this were a great way to keep up to date on the nordic skiing scene in other areas of the country or world. Over time, I came to "know" regular contributors to the forum both through reading their public posts and through e-mail conversations. Occasionally, I'd get a chance to meet contributors to the forum "live in person" and get a chance to put a face with a name.

I've made many more "online friends" over the past decade through forums, discussion groups and blogs that I find interesting. And I've had more chances to actually meet new "online friends," thus turning them into just . . . friends. One of those chances came over the past two days while road tripping through the Midwest with two other members of the Technology Evangelist team, Ro and Ben.

We had a chance to meet Derek Franklin in Bloomington, Indiana yesterday while in town for a real estate technology presentation. Derek is the author of a series of books on Macromedia Flash, creator of SearchAutomator Pro and founder of the recently launched WhoNu.com. We shot an interview with Derek in HD this morning, but forgot to take even a single picture with him, but I can assure you he is a very smart, innovating guy who looks like this:

Stay tuned to TechnologyEvangelist.com for our interview with Derek.

Later in the day, we met up with Frank Gruber of SomeWhatFrank.com (and BallParkFrank.com) to talk about technology that mutually interests us over a couple beers at a Chicago sports bar. We covered the evolution of his own blog, tips on how to start a blog, SplogReporter.com, and his latest creation, TeamSportsBars.com, a national registry of which sports bars are affiliated with which sports teams. Does your town have a bar where loyal sports fans gather? If so, share your knowledge on Team Sports Bar.

Our interview with Frank will be available soon on Technology Evangelist in HD as well.

Did meeting Derek and Frank face-to-face change my relationship with them? Yes. I already knew they were smart, shared common interests in technology and could organize their thoughts on their blogs. But actually sitting down for a conversation added a level of humor and deeper meaning to their comments than can be achieved through text blogging, e-mails or phone calls alone. Having face-to-face experience with them will change how I read their blogs, allowing me to pick up more humor and meaning in their written words.

 

We hope our HD video interviews with Derek and Frank will help you get to know our two new, innovating friends!

Written from the back seat of Ben's car while leaving Chicago and published using a Sprint PCS card.