US woman on quest to meet all her Facebook friends this year
Winnetka resident ArLynn Leiber Presser has decided to meet face to face with 335 of her original facebook friends this year, including ones that live outside the US. Presser updates her blog in her home that describes her experiences."I am learning about friendship, what my friends are like, getting to know some of them better than I did before and in some cases, getting to know them at all."
When she set her goal at the beginning of the year, she had more than 300 Facebook friends.
"It's doable, (but) it's going to take an enormous amount of dedication on my part," said Presser, an author and former attorney. "I cannot let up."
"About one-fourth of my friends are people I never met," Presser said, such as six people with whom she plays online Scrabble. "I am done with 42 friends," Presser said last week. By done, Presser means she has met face to face with them. "By the end of the month, I will get to more than 60."
Her 335 friends on Facebook include her sons and some neighbors and relatives.
"Even in a town as small as Winnetka, you're friends with someone, but if you don't make the time, you realize it has been six months since you talked to them," said Presser, who has lived in Winnetka 18 years.
Getting together with friends who live out of state is more difficult. So Presser prepared for her odyssey practically.
About 30 of her Facebook friends live outside the country. The day after she posted an online video explaining her Face-to-Facebook plan, friends who live in the Philippines sent her a picture of a roasted pig.
"They said, 'we can't wait until you get to the Philippines. We are going to have a big feast when you show up.'"
Presser is single, which affords her some flexibility. But one obstacle she has to overcome is her own Like the folks in the Philippines, some friends are excited about Presser's visit and want to do something special.
"I am willing to roll with that," Presser said. "So far, it hasn't happened, but I would respect the other person's boundaries.
"Part of the project is to find out what it means to be a friend," Presser said. "I want the friends to do what is most comfortable for them. Letting the experience be guided by them lets me learn more about them and lets me be a friend to them. You can't have crazy experiences all the times. There are friends for different purposes, friends who will shepherd you through a crisis, friends who will show you something amazing. I am appreciative of all of them."
As happens in the online world, Presser's project has snowballed. Publicity, most recently from a Brazilian newspaper, has brought more than 1,400 new friends to her site, with 999 friendship requests waiting in a queue.
"I don't think I can add more friends," Presser said Monday.
