Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the Internet and how different my life would be without it.

For one, I wouldn’t be writing this blog (obviously). My job would be different (obviously). I would still have a land-line phone (as it is the Internet that has kept me in touch for cheap with my family that’s long-distance).

But there are other things my life would be missing without this thing we call the world wide web — community.

Sure, Facebook makes it easy to stay in touch with people you went to school with, or worked with, or whatever-ed with, but it has also given me a community of people online I have never met, but with whom my life would not be the same had I not come across their net presence.

Sure, Twitter’s a big part of that — I tend to follow/be followed by more people I don’t know, and I really like that on Twitter. I like that aspect of it. Through these people, their tweets and their blogs, I feel like I have a whole community of friends — and it doesn’t bother me that we’ve never met.

A few examples:

@spydergrrl and I found each other because our blog entries complaining about Margaret Wente calling all bloggers male were featured on thestar.com. We’ve read each other’s blogs ever since, she’s been on Spark proclaiming her geek girl status to the world, and I just wanted to bring her chicken soup when she was sick last week. I’ve never met Tanya, but that doesn’t matter to me at all, we converse on Twitter as if we’ve known each other forever.

@opinionatedlizz started following me when I echoed a complaint of hers that she had made on Twitter, and pointed out (sadly) her complaint would never be heard by the company because their Twitter feed is automated. We both buzzed around each other’s blogs (hers is great!), and have been conversing ever since (Happy early birthday by the way!).

@saragiguere is a Toronto-based musician, who was kind enough to let me interview her for my blog (look for that feature to come later this month!). Again, it was a matter of two like-minded individuals just happening to connect on Twitter.

I’ve been lurking on @nachosatmidnite‘s blog for awhile (see they’re not all women!) and left my first comment when he went to a restaurant I had a horrible experience with. He found my blog, we started following each other on Twitter and conversing ever since. Even when I don’t agree with him, Chris is willing to publish my comments and respond to them. Not everyone is that open-minded.

@neatebuzzthenet has two great blogs everyone should follow: His Yahoo Junior Hockey one, Buzzing the Net, and Out of Left Field. Neate has been a big inspiration for me as a blogger, and a great supporter of my little blog here. He was one of the first people to start leaving comments (you know, that wasn’t my mother). He’s so smart and well-versed in every kind of sport, I feel honoured when I have an opinion to share with him that he agrees with. As a blogger, he has my respect.

@laurenonizzle half counts, since I did “officially” meet her at a workshop in May. She is a blogger extraordinaire — the kind of blogger I most definitely could never be. But I respect her immensely for building herself an online persona and brand. Especially for a kid her age. Kudos, Lauren.

Finally, all the people that do @journchat on Twitter every Monday night — they make me think critically about my craft and challenge me to do better. Thank you to all I’ve ever conversed with in that, you have no idea how much I take away from Journchat every single week.

So yes, the Interwebz can be full of crazies. You don’t know what you’re reaching into when you “meet” someone online, but when you’re really lucky, you find amazing stuff!

Thanks to those who inspire me online now, and I can’t wait to see who else is out there!