Guest Post: I’m From Jersey, What’s Your Excuse? How A Relocated Jersey Girl Used Twitter To Make Friends

This week’s guest post is from my rather new friend, Nicole Benedict. For the longest time I knew her only as @MrsBenedict on Twitter. And, I admit, there are times I have to think a few seconds before I remember her first name. In my mind, she will probably always be MrsBenedict, even though she and her husband are quite a bit younger than I. I recently had a chance to meet Nicole and her husband in person…and also got to meet her mom and sister. Nicole is a part of this great local Twitter community we have here in Central PA, and I’m glad I’ve gotten to know her. In the course of our discussions Nicole shared with me how Twitter has been an important part of her life while living in an area where she knew no one, so I asked her to share her story. You can also check out her blog.

I like meeting new people.

I like making new friends.

But I am no longer in college.

I work most of my days from home for a small company.

I don’t frequent the bars (besides, are those the kind of friends I want to be making, anyway?)

And I am not ‘actively’ involved in any church.

What’s a girl to do?

Bit of a backstory. I was born and raised on the Jersey Shore (the actual place, not the MTV show). I spent the first 21 years of my life in the same house, same neighbors, same church, same school system. I had many friends – hosted many ‘game nights’ or ‘movie nights’ or just ‘hanging out’ at moms house. College time neared – I stayed home and attended a local community college while most of my friends ventured out. I still remained socially active within my community. In 2003, after graduating community college, I packed up and moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to finish college. A giant leap of faith.

I lived alone in a 4 bedroom house my mom and step-dad bought as a ‘vacation home’. (OK, I had a couple pets to keep me company, but that was it!) I had NO friends … NO family … to be around. I chose not to be a 21yr old living in a dorm full of 18yr old girls (who needs that kind of drama, anyway?). After three years of college, I now have a few friends I talk to and see every few months. Oh yeah, and I got a husband out of it. And his friends became my friends. Kind of. We are in different stages of life. He and I are married, own our home, work hard, saving our money to start a family. His friends still live with their parents, party in the basement of other friends’ houses and drink like they’re still in college. They’re fun to see, on occasion. Truthfully, that’s all I can handle (they won’t see this blog, it’s ok).

But in October 2008 I discovered Twitter. Per Wikipedia, Twitter is “a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to the author’s subscribers who are known as followers.”

I started out pretty quietly, following celebrities and such. Then some local Twitterers found me, and new friendships were formed. Sure, I didn’t ‘know’ them personally, but they were local and fun to talk to.

Fast forward to today: I have met dozens of local Twitter friends – friends of all ages and backgrounds – young and single, engaged couples, married, married with families. I truly value these new friendships. They are not replacing my lifelong friendships from New Jersey, but because of LIFE (and 140 miles distance) a phone call to those friends asking “Hey, whatcha doing tonight? Wanna grab dinner?” is just not feasible. But a quick Tweet to some of my local friends asking the same question and I’ll be out the door (I know! I know! I don’t do that anyway. For those that do know me – I am a planner and not a fan of ‘spur-of-the-moment’ activities. But the theory is there, people!)

I have hosted a “Wiitup” where we played Wii, ate lots of food and socialized. I have attended a “Sledup” when we were pounded with snow (when was the last time I actually enjoyed a snowstorm and went sledding instead of doing nothing but shovel!), and most recently a St. Patrick’s Day party with green beer and a spread of food that cannot even compete with any other St. Pat party I’ve been to in the past. A pizza party is on the books and maybe even a girls weekend in northern Pennsylvania (I’ve never had a girls weekend!) I’ve even ventured downtown Lancaster for an after-work “Lancup” for drinks. These local friends LOVE Lancaster and I have to admit, I’m starting to gain an appreciation for the city I’ve tried to avoid the past 6 years living here.

I heard this somewhere and thought it was phrased nicely …

Facebook is for the friends you already have. Twitter is for making new ones.

I would love to be your friend.

Tagged as: Community, Social Media, Twitter