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Photo courtesy of Kasaa on flickr.

This is a guest blog entry from Karin Gerber.

Long ago, before the days of current social media outlets like Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn, there lived a group of people who would socialize by creating what was called Friendship Books.  This was accomplished by using pens, paper, and a vivid imagination. 

Then again, I’m talking about over 20 years ago… back when there were pen-pals, and the need to meet new people and acquire more pen-pals.  This was our way of meeting, getting to know, and socializing with people near or far.  This was made possible by creating and mailing around what we used to call Friendship Books, or “FBs”, for short. 

These small to medium sized “books” were created by stapling pieces of paper together and including a “To” and “From” page which included an address.  Once the book was filled, it would be returned to the pen pal it was intended for… Each page would be a work of art and would include the names of our favorite bands.… We used colorful paints, markers, stickers and more to try and outdo the last pen pal’s work.  The more offbeat, the better.  People would experiment with BINGO markers, tin foil, Saran wrap, you name it. (via Fourth Grade Nothing)

Kind of like your home pages now, but with FBs, you had to physically create every bit of art and prose.

Once Facebook came about and everyone started calling it “FB” for short, it completely threw me back to the past when I used to color massive quantities of paper for making and filling out Friendship Books. 

What’s funny is that as I thought about this, so have many others… and as expected, many of us who started out as “FB” friends so many years ago, are once again finding each other on Facebook and becoming “FB” friends all over again.  It’s great to see how we all have changed.

It’s also impressive to think how simple things can transform into something complex, yet stay within the same realm, so to speak.  Same concept done a different way… a more modern, instantaneous way.