ABSTRACT
Dawg, this dude keeps texting me on Facebook! Now, he asks where we gonna climb tomorrow and if he could join us . . . what the hell should I say? We aren’t even friends . . .
Sitting on the couch of a cozy apartment in Fontainebleau, France, 25-year-old Michael1 looks a little upset. iPhone in hand, he deals with the dozens of messages he received today via Facebook. This well-known professional climber from the US is on a three-month trip and met “the dude” this morning while warming up before climbing. As with the many climbers he meets, they briey exchanged a few words. But the intimacy aorded by social media can render brief encounters into “friends.” For Michael-with his 75k Facebook and 44k Instagram followers-these disconnected encounters often happen.
