Nowadays, friendships have completely changed. Some old-fashioned people may still measure the trueness of a friendship by how often they are there for them or if they can trust the other person, but let’s be real…there are some more factors in this day and age.
These factors, as a group, are called social media…and they can mean a lot. We tell ourselves they don’t matter, and the support or lack thereof on these sites don’t really mean anything, but ever since Myspace forced us to create a Top 8 to determine who our best friends were…they have meant everything.
In hopes of preventing a friendship from falling apart due to lack of consideration on social networks, here are some tips for being a BFF[AE] in 2013.
1. If there are 10 likes on your friend’s Instagram photo, be the eleventh. At 11 likes it says just that, rather than listing out all the names, and you can’t deny that that looks and feels cooler, so support your friend.
2. When a friend posts a “funny” status on Facebook, and they start to doubt their sense of humor because it’s not getting a lot of attention, be there for them: like that status. Even if they have to ask you to like it…desperate measures, people.
3. Retweet any article or work/internship-related tweet your friend posts. If you’re my friend and you’re reading this, well, that’d be great if you caught this very subtle hint. ;)
4. Know what photos should and should not be posted of your friend. If they look tired, have a pimple in the middle of their forehead, or are more inebriated than the world should know, that probably means they don’t want anyone but you to see that. Sometimes it’s funny and makes all your other friends laugh along, but sometimes it’s just plain mean. Know when to draw that line.
5. Write on the wall of your best friends at least every month to show the world they have people that care about them. They probably already know it, but in the 21st century that’s not enough. The entire Internet community needs to know!
6. Picking out gifts for your friend should be simple. There’s this beautiful site called Pinterest that’s essentially made as a giant wish list. Sometimes they even have boards that are called “My Wish List.” It can’t get any clearer, so no excuses when it comes to birthdays.
7. Favorites, likes, repins should be constant. A steady flow of them tells your friend that you care. They now know you see their words, their photography, or their taste in clothes and that you appreciate it, which is almost the same as appreciating them.
8. If you really want to build some brownie points, make an entire Pinterest board devoted to your friend. This seems creepy at first, but it’s actually quite sweet. Repin things you know they’d like or you may buy for them someday, and that proves that you actually know and understand them.
Just remember that liking every status they make is not equivalent to actually spending time with them, so make sure you @reply them to hang out every once in awhile.