I do agree with scientists that people do see the differences between  virtual friending and real befriending. Vernon noted that when people  make connections with others online it is not the same as making a  personal connection face to face (p. 107). I believe this to be true as a  stranger you meet through a screen will not give you the complete idea  of who they are as if you were to meet them in person. I use Facebook to  stay connected to friends and family, but also use it to network with  people of shared interests due to the many groups Facebook has to offer.  I often get friend requests from people I have mutual friends with and  some are people from high school, others are from work. I probably will  not accept their request due to not knowing these people personally and  also no real benefit from adding them. The distinction between friending  and befriending is important because it allows others to understand  that personal connections and online connections have their own separate  benefits. Virtual befriending gives us access to a world we would on a  regular basis never have access too if the internet and technology was  never invented.

References 

Vernon, M. (2010). The Meaning of Friendship. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

After reviewing the Stanford piece, how do online friendships stand up, ethically speaking?

Online friendships can be just as important as face to face  friendships. Often as we get older we tend to disconnect ourselves from  people we once hung around on a day to day basis. Going from adolescence  to adulthood we start to see the dwindling of friendships. Facebook  among many other social networks allow us to stay in contact with people  we once had a close relationship with from adolescence. We use these  platforms to have casual conversations or even send a quick  congratulatory message on a marriage proposal. From the Stanford reading  in the Mutual Caring section, the author states that regardless of  closeness friends still show a form of caring and sympathy towards one  another and although as friends one may not see them on a day to day  basis it is still that connection being able to witness another’s  happiness which is allowed by online interactions. One example, a former  teammate from high school just proposed to his girlfriend, and he  posted a status and photo of his engagement, we may not talk like we  once did when we were kids but it still made me happy to see him doing  well. I sent him a congratulation message in a response to his status  and thus we formed a small conversation as if time hasn’t gotten in  between us. Online connections keeps us involved with our friends and  family as we carry on with our own lives.

Bennet, Helm. (2013). “Friendship.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of  Philosophy. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/friendship/