I'm a little peculiar when it comes to developing new friendships with people whom I've met (online).
Now, when I mean 'online', I don't mean those from the groups in Telegram or Discord or the dating applications.
I mean those whom Facebook's algorithms have added to my Friends list- automatically- without them sending me an invite, nor me sending them one either.
Many people (rightfully) are wary about such connections.
Technically, I should, too.
But I'm the sort who takes things as they come, and so if the Universe decides that we two strangers should connect, well, no harm done, let's begin from here.
To be honest, I don't mind it very much.
It is a blessing to know new people, it is a privilege to know them further.
There is one criteria that I however do have when it comes to building budding friendships online.
It's not a very complicated criteria.
It's simply that I want to know you.
And I want to know more about you.
That, of course, doesn't mean that you have to be sharing stuff in a soul-baring, spill-all, open-book kind of way.
But it does mean that you do have to (at least) let me know a little bit of who you are.
It can be anything about you.
It can be anything about your hobbies or your thoughts or your career.
Doesn't matter what content you post- just so long as it makes me feel like I am getting to know you- as a person- and that there's a chance for me to know you even better.
I have friends who are doctors.
I have friends who are teachers.
I also have friends who run their own businesses.
There are people on my Facebook who don't share about anything personal except for stuff related to their careers.
There are people on my Facebook who have made the platform an amazing portfolio of their artistic skills and abilities.
And there are people on my Facebook who are remarkably open with their thoughts, their opinions, their pursuits and their dreams.
All of us have a right to post what we want to post.
All of us too have a right to decide what we want to say and how we want to say (it).
But friendship is a two-way thing.
And I'm afraid I don't take very easily to those who,
a) leave comments on my posts of- mostly- a political nature.
b) post zilch about career, life, hobbies or anything that lets me know who you are,
c) post memes after memes after memes or articles after articles after articles on the feed which- although may be a reflection of your thoughts- however are the thoughts of others- not yourself, and so I find I know nothing about you, and know not you at all.
It doesn't matter to me if you choose not to post anything personal, about your life, or about your career- its' a fact that not all of us are comfortable with social media, and not all of us can afford to.
But if you're wanting to develop a friendship, then the engagement-to the very least- has to be sincere.
I have friends who don't post anything about their lives or what they do or have a profile picture even, but they're super onz in sharing articles, and- most importantly- are genuine in their interaction with you.
There are friends with whom I don't see much of their personal lives, but there's plenty of content about their hobbies, their passions and their careers.
That's all fine with me.
Because they're telling me something.
They're telling me about themselves.
I appreciate it.
You can say that I'm one of those kinds who won't initiate an intellectual discussion over an article or a meme.
You can say that I don't like receiving longish articles first thing in the morning.
And that I won't go out of my way to interact with you if you aren't giving me something, anything, about you that I can chat to you with.
It doesn't sit very well with me when one not only does a, b and c, but then- having been bounced off the platform for a season- proceed to engage over DM using the same technique of meme and article, after which, when having received no response, become oddly pettish and start to whine.
A friend suggested to me that this response to my non-response might be a gaslight, a manipulation, or a bait. "Trying to get you to respond lar..."
I don't know.
Well, maybe.
But I'm not the type to get fired up and bang out a reactive DM response to you.
Instead I'm the type who, after having gotten fired up, screenshots the DM, and then writes an article about you.