The Extra Cool Group! (of people Michael is experimenting on) discussion

So! You have goodreads friends, right? If not, HOW DID YOU GET HERE? HUH? That's what I thought. You have goodreads friends.

Does your goodreads "community"--however you choose to define this community--carry over into other mediums? Are you also Facebook friends? Do you also talk on the phone? Pen pals? Guild Wars buddies? I'm interested in both where your friendships extend to, and also in how you would describe the interaction.

As an example, I'll go first: I'm friends with many of my Goodreads friends on Facebook and a few on Twitter. I also am close IRL friends with a few of them, one of which I met specifically through goodreads. A couple others were friends before we joined the site, so I don't know how much they count.

My interactions with goodreaders, other than face-to-face time, is almost entirely on goodreads. Although I've friended a lot of them on Facebook, I'm never over there, cuz it's boooring. And, I'm just now starting to use Twitter, so I've talked to one goodreader friend on there one time, and that's it. So, although I'm connected with goodreader friends in several ways, my main ways of interacting with them are through real life interaction, and the rest of it basically on goodreads.

I came to goodreads after karen pestered me for months about needing to be on the site. the first group of friends I made on goodreads were all work people. I don't have any phone numbers for any work peeps that I know on goodreads, although I have greg's email.

Some of my friends joined from seeing posts I made about books using the site on facebook those people I interact with in a lot of ways.

there is one person I met here (JOEL) that I periodically send books to be cause he likes what I like and I like vindication for my tastes.

I am friends with a few people from here on facebook but just people who have friended me either entirely or mostly. most of my communications on facebook are with people I know from a philosophy forum I have been a part of much longer than goodreads.

I have a long time friend in real life - we've been book buddies forever swapping books yada yada...he started on GR and finally around 2007 I joined to keep track of my books since I hate Excel (which he uses mostly). Anyhow I've got friends on GR I initially met (both via Real Life or online) via Livejournal or photography friends from flickr - some of those have gone over to Facebook which I resisted initially and now there myself have also found a few friends who were either on GR or joined after hearing about GR from me. I also have some family members on GR. And also people on GR who I've added or they have added me via liking the same books or reviews but have not crossed over to other spheres of my life...although with some of those folks we msg each other on GR from time to time.

I came to Goodreads when in search of a decent book shelfing site. At first, that's all I really used it for. Once I got into the whole group thing, that's when I started talking with folks and actually enjoying the place.

Of my friends list here, half are just random Redditors who have similar book tastes. The other half are folks who either liked my posts or reviews, or they have similar tastes in books and decided to friend me.

I don't use Twitter or Facebook(and I never will), so no GR'ers there. Also don't know any GR'ers in meatspace either. Bascially, what happens on GR stays here...

I got here because I was looking for a place to discuss & find books that I'd like. I hate wasting the little bit of time I have to read sifting through misleading blurbs & the reviews of strangers.

I've also always wanted a decent way to keep up with the books I've read. Many are republished with new covers & I'd forget I'd read them a decade or two earlier because they just weren't that memorable. More than a few times, I'd get a chapter or two in & realize I had & didn't want to again. Frustrating.

Some friends here carry over into other mediums. I choose them here because we have common reading tastes. Often those same tastes carry over into the real world. I've done computer support over the phone or email, sold the bowls I make or just chatted with some. They're the minority, though. Most friends here are 'book buddies only'.

I'm not much of a Facebook user, but got on because it is the best way to keep up with my kids who are all adults & are scattered in different states. We also moved out of state a few years ago leaving behind a lot of long time friends & it helps us keep in touch with them better, too. A couple of friends here on GR are also on FB, but I communicate more with them through email.

I don't Twitter nor text on my phone. I have the latter service turned off, actually.

Except for family (who are all on here, although not very active) I don't think I've met any of my GR friends in person. I wouldn't mind, but I don't travel much & live in the middle of nowhere. One was going to stop by when a trip took her close by, but the timing didn't work out.

My answer. No, but I have only been on GR for a few months. I fully expect over time to have some friends translate.

This is the same on my own forum. I chat with many members and some of them make the crossing to becoming FB friends.

Because you are talking social networks (and I love that GR knows that it is). Did you know that a social network site, similiar to this one, exists for knitters? http://www.ravelry.com It is extraordinary and in many ways does a far better job at being a social networking site (for its user group) than GR does.

I joined GR because a friend of mine pestered me into doing it. At first I thought it was kind of lame.. Why would I want to use a weird database to track what I read? But then I discovered groups, flocks of people who actually like reading as much as I do, and who sometimes even read what I read. This was a new concept to me! From that point on I was hooked.

At first I was kind of lost about the whole "friends" thing. I had exactly one friend, the one who invited me to join, and wasn't sure how I was supposed to find more. But through time and interacting in groups I joined, I met like minded individuals and made some real friendships with them.

As for cross over... There isn't much. I'm not big on facebook, I have a profile but I don't use it. I don't do that whole twitter thing. I hate talking on the phone, I don't like instant messenger.. I like to interact with people on a one on one basis, face to face. But, since a lot of GR friends are too far away to do that, I settle for sending PM's.

i also got here because a friend pestered me into joining. but now she and the rest of my original real-life friends barely even bother with GR anymore. sigh. sometimes i feel like deleting them from my friends list because they are now just creating clutter on that list! but then i may have to face real-life consequences & commentary if i delete any real-life friends. ah well. i guess i just have an innate editing instinct.

1. People I met in real life that just happen to also be on GR. There are a few of these people, but most of them aren't regular GR users. I'll see some activity from them on GR maybe once a month if that. These people I sometimes talk to on Facebook/Twitter and other networks, and occasionally in real life.

2. People I met on Goodreads. These people I interact with pretty much exclusively on GR, and I like it that way. I see no advantage in expanding these friendships to other networks, but maybe there are advantages that I'm not seeing just because I've not tried it yet.