'I met him on Twitter' ...that is what defines the new age trend of networking and making friends

'I met him on Twitter'

...that is what defines the new age trend of networking and making friends

While you might have heard lines like 'I met her at a party', 'I know him through a common friend' or 'we graduated from the same college' and so on, something like 'we met on Twitter' could be a little surprising. Strange as it may sound, Twitter is the new-found platform for budding friendships these days. Akriti Pal, an ad film maker, celebrated her 26th birthday last month in a lavish way. And as she made the elaborate introduction rounds, she introduced three of her friends as 'I met him/her on Twitter'. Psychiatrist Hemant Mittal points out that it is a double-edged sword. "It is an easy way to socialise or make friends for people who have a high amount of anxiety. This serves as a good medium for those who want to take their own time. Another advantage is that it gives you room for a fair amount of interaction before actually meeting the person in real. You can be talking to him/her for weeks or months before you decide to meet, if at all," he explains. Sukiti Mehta, 24, a media professional, recently declared on Facebook that she is in a relationship with a guy who she has known for barely a month now. "I met this guy on Twitter, as he had started to follow me. And we enjoyed reading each other's tweets. I found him very interesting and our wavelengths matched. Our friendship grew on Twitter and extended to Facebook to further emails and telephonic conversations," she says. Similar was the case with Parit, 27, who found his best friend on Twitter. "I was bullied by my friends to join Twitter. I felt it'd be a total waste of time, but I was wrong. Soon after posting a couple of tweets, I started having a good share of followers. My inquisitiveness led me to check and read their profile and tweets. Some days later, I found this girl who was posting quite interesting tweets on sports! I religiously started reading her posts, and even commenting on some of them. We started interacting a lot and now we have become the best of friends," he says. While it looks simple and smooth, Twitter friendships have a flip side too. And as the psychiatrist emphasises, "There is ample scope for manipulators to con others. There's no way of judging whether the other person is genuine or not. Some people get so emotionally involved that it hampers their personal and social spheres. Moreover, it even leads to extra-marital affairs where you feel a strong emotional connect with the person without any physical involvement."