Are your friends nearby or online? Do you have social media girlfriends?

September is a special month around Girlfriendology – it’s International Women’s Friendship Month (aka: #FriendshipMonth) and we’re celebrating with 30 great guest blogs filled with fabulous girlfriend advice and wisdom.

Today we hear from guest blogger BRITT MICHAELIAN (shown below), from ‘Social Media Girlfriends’ as she shares about her girlfriend DABNEY (shown to the right) and their effort to bring girlfriends together online. (And don’t miss Dabney on our BlogTalkRadio show on Friday, September 23, 2-2:30pm ET!)

Over the past few years, as we all have become more active on Twitter,
Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube, I have noticed that my closest friends are no longer my neighbors or my children’s classmates. I am still friends with these people of course, but not in the same way. My closest friends, the ones who I connect with every day and sometimes multiple times in an hour are women who live all over the world, many of whom I have never met.

We bond over what we are making (or what we are not making) for dinner and over silly mistakes we have made or successes we have shared. We connect on issues of love and marriage. We promote each other’s businesses and introduce one another to resources, entertainment and new ideas. We help each other
grow.

We help each other to be the best we can be, like true friends should.

The reality of living in the 21st century is that friendship is now available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, anywhere in the world via social media. Friendship has evolved from who you meet in your everyday life to connecting with people all over the globe on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+ and new
platforms that seem to pop up every day.

About a year ago, when I was participating as a panelist for #MOMeoChat, I connected on Twitter with Dabney Porte, a fun and fearless business coach who also loves to inspire and empower women to follow their dreams. We began sending jokes and happy thoughts to each other and soon, we decided it was time for a phone call.

Our first call was over an hour long as we felt like we had connected with a long lost sister and had so much to catch up on. Before long, we had formed a business together and were writing press releases about our new venture. We created a place online where women could connect and make the world a better place together. A global community where they too could walk in their brilliance and find support, love, encouragement, laughter and connection with women.

It is our gift to the world in gratitude for the wonderful friendships that we have been so fortunate to have formed on social media. In just three months, this community has connected women in 18 countries that have shared over 130 million impressions of love and support on Twitter and Facebook. Social Media Girlfriends has been embraced by thousands of women and we are growing every day.

In the meanwhile, Dabney and I sit back and smile as we watch the virtual hugs and smiles that warm the hearts of women around the globe every day. Friendship has gone global and for that, we are so thankful.

If you want to learn more about how you can join Social Media Girlfriends, stop by our blog at and follow us on Twitter. Don’t miss DABNEY PORTE (Britt’s BFF and Co-Founder of Social Media Girlfriends) on the Girlfriendology BlogTalkRadio Show on September 23, 2-2:30pm ET.

Where do you most often connect with your Girlfriends – online or offline? Do you have lots of social media girlfriends? How has social media impacted your friendships?

By the way, we LOVE guest blogs here at Girlfriendology. Have a great girlfriend story to tell? Want to celebrate your fabulous female friends? SHARE! (And, we also have Girlfriend Gurus – check that out to be featured on Girlfriendology!)

p.s. Other Social Media Friends blog posts:

• Month of Friendship – Social Media Friends
• Facebook Friends, Twitter Friends, Online Friends – Are they FRIENDS?

Note: It’s September – International Women’s Friendship Month (#Friendship Month) and we’re celebrating all month long! From this interview and guest blog by Miss America, to a month of women’s wisdom and 30 guest blogs, to our Newsletter Sign-up Contest and Facebook fun, and more! Don’t miss out on any of it! SIGN UP for our Newsletter and ‘Like’ us on Facebook to stay up to date with all the fun friendship festivities and more!

Our September Friendship Month Guest Blogs so far …

• Sept 1 – MISS AMERICA, Teresa Scanlan – The Importance of Friendship
• Sept 2 – Shasta Nelson, GirlfriendCircles – Friendship in Stages – Advice for more Meaningful Friendships
• Sept 3 - Kimberly Anderson, Kim’s Closet TV – Giving back to your community with a Friend
• Sept 4 – Lynn Gasior, Cabin Chicks – Girlfriend Memories and Traditions
• Sept 5 – Rachel Awes, Artist – The Art of Girlfriends
• Sept 6 – Flo Schell, Joyful Aging – Heartfelt Advice on Friendships
• Sept 7 – Cherie Burbach, author, About.com editor – How to Understand Your Girlfriend’s Health Problems
• Sept 8 – Susan Mallery, best-selling author – Three Lessons a Girlfriend Can Learn from Tim Gunn
• Sept 9 – Elizabeth Patch, artists, body image Girlfriend Guru – Conversations with Ourselves
• Sept 10 – Donina Ifurung, On High Heels – Girls and the Art of Togetherness
• Sept 11 – Jennifer Buehlre Williams, Mom / Journalist – A Mom’s / Girlfriend’s Point of View of 9/11
• Sept 12 – Shanae Miller, Single Southern Mommy – Girlfriend Advice from Deep in the Heart
• Sept 13 – Kristin Peoples, CouponScribbles – Five Ways to Organize for Back to School Frenzy
• Sept 14 – Kimberley Freeman, author – Mary-Rose and the Mountain, A Tale of Two Girlfriends
• Sept 15 – Julie Anderson, Oh! Shoes Brand Ambassador – Buying Shoes can Change the World
• Sept 16 – Renee Yemme, Girlfriend Guru Innergy – Girlfriend Advice for De-Stressing
• Sept 17 - Janet DeVito, Girls on a Cruise – Spending Time to Nurture Friendships
• Sept 18 – Miss Kitty Plum, Plums Lingerie – A Brief Guide to Panties, Girlfriend Guru
• Sept 19 – Steph Staszko, legal advice – Savvy Safety Tips for a Girls’ Night Out
• Sept 20 – Kandi Jaeger, uterine cancer advocate – Girlfriend Update from Uterine Cancer Survivor
• Sept 21 – Chrissy Scott-Hynes, Coupon Clip Shop – Start using Coupons to Save Money
• Sept 22 – Britt Michaelian, Social Media Girlfriends – Do Twitter Followers + Facebook Friends = Real Friends?

Tags: Facebook, friendship, friendship month, girlfriends, guest blog, LinkedIn, smgirlfriends, social media, twitter

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 22nd, 2011 at 7:05 am and is filed under Be a Better FRIEND, Podcasts/BlogTalkRadio Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.