I see the meaning of grouping those to whom I am connected online. Putting all the names in one place at one time makes the collective that much more daunting. It has value on the site, but that value isn’t something I carry around with me in life. When I get the chance to share a meal with Bud, I don’t think to myself, “Bud lives in my friend circle as well as my PLN circle, I will restrict conversation accordingly.”
The best moments are when those circles break, when the people with whom I’ve forged relationships exist in the ever-shifting cloud of relativity, when how I know you isn’t a categorical imperative.
So far my G+ circles (and FB lists for that matter) are based on where I know people from. But the closeness of the friendship, besties vs barelys and everything in between hasn't been monitored. Perhaps because I haven't shared widely enough there. Perhaps because it feels artificial. Perhaps because I know my own Venn Diagrams intersect and loop and morph and move.
At my birthday party this week there will be a dozen (or few dozen) friends. No one will know all of them. (Including myself because it's a joint birthday party and my Venn Diagram overlaps with the birthday boy for "Dancing" and other random people. But we don't even share all of the same dancing people.) Most of the people there are in the "Circle" of my current city. Or my current school. But others are from my past with only the slightest connection to my current life. Enough to know they're in town for the date.
It's funny though. This is one of the few times of the year when I make an effort to introduce my circles. Classmates. School friends. Cohort. (Yes, they're all slightly different.) Dance at school. Monday night dancers. (Again, surprisingly different groups.) Church. College. When I taught. Friends of friends. I classify people in my head right and left. I just don't explicitly tell the Internet Companies what those people mean to me.
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