Facebook strangers (Page 2)

I friended a woman this summer in a similar way - we met at a trail race, we had some friends in common, I sent her a request. I have no idea what she thought when I did that.  I did it because I figured we'd run into each other again, maybe I'd see some fun trail running pictures, learn about a new race, etc.  In contrast I also friended a guy at this same race, whom I have run into at least 10 times at running things, and he lives down the street from me (literally 5 houses away) and he hasn't accepted my request - why?

Since then, she sent me a personal message while I was on vacation to tell me that she liked seeing my vacation pictures.  I have seen really interesting pictures of her doing other hobbies that tell me more about her and a topic I'm interested in.

Even though I am an introvert, I haven't reached my limit of making relationships.    And if she or someone like that turned out to be icky/boring/rude, then I'd just unfriend/unfollow them.    In fact, I have made SO many friends this way!   A casual connection can often turn into an opportunity. 

I don't think it's that weird - I've gotten to know a lot of my cycling acquaintances much better by keeping up with them on Facebook. There have been plenty of gals I met on a group mtb ride, friended on Facebook, and now count among my real life riding friends, I'm friends on Facebook with a bunch of guys from my cycling team who I've hardly met, but I like seeing their pics of their rides and adventures.

As an introvert, I would never be comfortable getting someone's phone number the first time I meet them, but friending people with similar interests on Facebook or Instagram breaks the ice a bit, and has allowed me to meet a lot of real life friends I wouldn't have otherwise.

That said, I'm an artist and have 3,000 friends and 1,200 followers on Facebook, mostly fellow artists/painters. It's a little bit weird having a bunch of strangers connected on there. I designate all of the people I don't know as "acquaintances" so that when I post pics of my kids or family or anything private I can make those photos available to "friends except acquaintances". Don't need a bunch of randoms looking at pics of my kids. I have a business page that I try to redirect them to, but Facebook makes that difficult by showing it to so few people in their feeds...

You know what IS creepy?? The flyby feature on Strava!! I have, on multiple occasions now, passed guys on the trail while riding and had them make contact on Strava using the flybys feature. I get it if you're being friendly and we had a decent conversation, but if we just passed and said "hey", it looks uber-creepy for you to find me the next day and say hi. Luckily, you can turn it off.