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Ever met any of your online friends in real life?

August 26, 2010 · by Espen André Øverdahl

State of the Mobile Web

We conducted an anonymous survey of Opera Mini users to find out more about browsing trends. It turned out to be what we feel is one of the most robust surveys ever conducted into mobile Web usage. More than 300,000 people answered the survey, and we present some of the findings in this month's state of the mobile report.

One of the questions asked were “Do you have online friends you’ve never met in real life?”. In general, “yes” responses for this question were relatively common, indicating that mobile Internet users tend toward having online friends they have not met in person.

Have you met any of your online friends in real life? I've been fortunate enough to meet a few Opera users over the years, and every meet up have been great! Tell us a bit your experience as a comment below.

Readers' comments 50

Left under the original article, as archived; 1 page of comments could not be recovered.

  • dirk26. August 2010, 08:59

    ... I met someone very special ... twice.
    and then married her :happy: ... as you can see/read here

  • Tamil26. August 2010, 09:00

  • Andrea A. Bianco26. August 2010, 09:00

    I've met a good share of my on-line friends and contacts in real life too. Talking about numbers, I guess we are around 80% or even more. Sadly I met no my.opera friends/contacts yet,but you can never know :)

    Have a nice time people!

  • ChuBieth26. August 2010, 09:16

    Sure. I have many friends and even new business associates in real life thanks to the My Opera community and My Opera community helps smooth My routine tasks.

  • Artur „Jurgi” Jurgawka26. August 2010, 09:17

    Do you have online friends you’ve never met in real life?


    Many.

    Have you met any of your online friends in real life?


    No, not yet. Most of them live far from me, so it's difficult to see each other. Of course I had some chanses to change it. Our crowd from klub-internautow forums organize annual meetings, but, alas, I didn't managed to go for it. :(

    All people, that I know both online and IRL, I have met long before an „online era”. :)

  • michaelpuermayr26. August 2010, 09:18

    I have met about 99% of my contacts in real live. the other 1% are 3 FB-friends who are on my list because they liked me having the Opera logo as my avatar. facebook.com/puermayr

  • michaelpuermayr26. August 2010, 09:19

    ah yeah... where do i find the report? not published yet?

  • Joshua Phelps26. August 2010, 09:31

    Only one, her name is April. I met her on my (now deleted) Facebook page. She drove from her state to see me. How sweet. :-)

  • Ace26. August 2010, 09:41

    I have met one friend in real. Also, I have many friends with whom I communicate through phone. Hurray to my.opera! Hurray to irc.opera.com !

  • Anton Tsigularov26. August 2010, 09:47

    I went with two of my WoW guildies to a Korn concert. We didn't know we live in the same town until the day before and they didn't know about the concert either. Along with mine and their friends we ended up being 8 people. And to top it all, we weren't only males either :)

    Best concert ever!

  • Bud McDonnell26. August 2010, 11:12

    Yes I have. One Opera member even flew from Wisconsin to New Jersey to meet me. So we had a :hat: when she got here! 3 days later... :lol: :faint: Also have done the webcam thing and talked by phone with various members. Trading pictures is always fun too.

  • wazzup10526. August 2010, 12:37

    I met my first online-only friend offline WAY way back in the eighties. (before the internet even existed basically)

  • Siam Sabbir Jorjy26. August 2010, 13:46

    Nope not yet. Cause i neither add unknown persons on facebook nor chat with strangers on yahoo messenger. so definitely there's no question about meeting someone.

  • ludby daksa26. August 2010, 13:56

    yes, i have friends online! In different cities!

  • Mit26. August 2010, 14:02

    Have you met any of your online friends in real life?


    Yes - an Opera friend, and now we are good friends :) Thank Myopera a lot :up:

  • Shailesh Das26. August 2010, 14:07

    @dirk: lucky you man!
    I still want to meet some of my online friends in europe :D

  • dirk26. August 2010, 14:21

    :D thanks, lucky I am ... but most of all I'm :happy:

  • vIrGE26. August 2010, 14:25

    local ones.. yes :D

  • Suhaib abdo26. August 2010, 14:26

    Not yet

  • Fabian Mwiti26. August 2010, 14:34

    Am in Africa, Kenya. The member photo you see was sent to me by a scammer and she almost conned me but i am clever. AFRAID OF STRANGERS UNLESS........

  • thobi26. August 2010, 16:09

    my favorite story is the following. as i spend some time in norway i took a plane home to austria for xmas. so i got on the plane, sat down and i've been quite happy about having a free seat right next to me. after the boarding was completed a steward came and talked to a passenger behind me, asking him to give up his place and allow a mother to sit right next to her children. well, who could say no? anyway, i knew that the chance that he would offer the guy just the seat next to me ... HUGE ... and so it was. so i saw the guy crawling out from behind and thought 'hey, that face looks familiar to me'. but shy as i am i just sat there, said hi and talked to myself silently while still thinking it can't be true. i mean, i was sitting there, thinking a guy from austria, who is living in trondheim and who i just know via MyO should be sitting right next to me ... just by coincidence?! bullsh*t. anyway i had to ask and started with something like 'you are not from austria by any chance?' ... to cut the story short i was sitting just right next to severinsadjina who i only knew via MyO and was going to meet three weeks later in trondheim anyway :D

  • Angeliki26. August 2010, 16:48

    speaking to Opera members on a daily basis,
    it made them more like family members,
    than just friends :) :yes:
    I never met any of them in real life,
    but
    I can not imagine my life without

    Matthew, Linda, Scott, Pamela,Edward, Dr. John, Ersi, Anne, Olga, Savaya,Chuck , Suntana,Oliver, Mags, Annette,Aadil, Zaphira, Carol,Jurjen,Giannis,Mel,MickeyJoe,Teresia, Dirk,P2,Star,Helen,Oliver,Peter,Naomi,James,TAMIL :heart:,Casey,Tab,Lorenzo,Anchi,THOBI :p,Ravo,Cynthia,Martin,Kat,Lea,Clean,Dee, Kim,Mik,Dave,Amir :heart:,Katya, the late Sugarwing & Allan :cry:, ....

    they all make/made my life happier! :happy: Thanks Opera for connecting me with the worlds most amazing people! :yes:

  • thobi26. August 2010, 16:58

    Originally posted by ellinidata:

    ....


    wohoo, i'm in the list too ;)

    sorry :D

  • Angeliki26. August 2010, 17:01

    Originally posted by thobi:

    wohoo, i'm in the list too



    hells yeah! in capitals too! :p

  • thobi26. August 2010, 17:11

    Originally posted by ellinidata:

    hells yeah! in capitals too! :p


    :headbang: :flirt:

  • dirk26. August 2010, 17:22

    :D Angeliki ... nice one :heart:

  • Angeliki26. August 2010, 17:30

    :happy:

  • nazkhi26. August 2010, 18:49

    i've meet 1 online friend and another 1 is coming up next.

  • L2D226. August 2010, 18:55

    I know of several friends of mine on OC who have met in real life, but I haven't met any of them. I regard my Opera friends as much my friends as anyone in real life and I would absolutely love to meet any of my online friends---Suntana, Angeliki, Edward, Bud, Karen, Tamil, lovinmalamutes, P2, DebPlatt, Tab, Carol, Pam----so many more. I would be honored to meet any or all of them. We should have area get-togethers!

  • Karen26. August 2010, 19:15

    I met my fiancé online nine years ago, and have also met numerous other people from the Net. :) I've only had one bad experience w/ meeting someone from the Net.



  • selurus26. August 2010, 19:52

    I've never met any of my online friends :(
    I'm hoping to in to the Opera University Tour next month and I'll probably meet other My Opera members and make new friends too. :)

  • Andrew Nguyen26. August 2010, 20:51

    Originally posted by Jurgi:

    Do you have online friends you’ve never met in real life?



    Nope. My parents would probably shun me if they found out. I do try to keep good close-contact with most of them though. :)

  • Charles Schloss26. August 2010, 21:45

    No not really but I have gotten some friends onto MyO

  • Vic Martinez26. August 2010, 23:00

    Friends in My Opera? Not here in my town--everybody uses Facebook ;) And from a few Opera Mini users I'm the only one who has a My Opera account because Opera is something new for the people in my area. Maybe later in time I'll get to know some friends here and invite others to My Opera. I do like My Opera and I'll use it for my blog. :up:

  • Daniel James Hendrycks27. August 2010, 00:51

    Nope, :(

  • Kyle Baker27. August 2010, 04:12

    The opposite of.. :yes:

  • Teresia27. August 2010, 04:35

    Greetings for you all here... Yes I met my husband, Dirk, on My Opera. It will be a long story to tell here, but if you are interested you can read here. I have some great friends online, Angeliki :), Linda :), Debplatt :sing: Brian, Edward, Mit, Mira, Carol, Darko,
    Tamil... Thank you for the smileys... Bob,Anchi, Shyma, Katarinakiki ( my real friend and now she is on my opera too)...
    Wawanerni (my brother, He is on my opera now) and more frieands...
    My facebook friend list are mostly my old friends or people I have known in real life...

  • decodedthought27. August 2010, 04:36

    Nope !

  • Kay Santos27. August 2010, 05:50

    Yea & it turns out tht we both where verry horny (: !!!

  • Kay Santos27. August 2010, 05:52

    Im wet & horny right now ! anyonee wants to talk ? <3

  • steplawn1427. August 2010, 06:35

    I never meet anyone in real life.Infact I am not that regular in net though i do have several Id's.Anyway im looking forward to make good friends and meet them.Im also scared of fake people in net.

  • steplawn1427. August 2010, 08:44

    congrates man.ur lucky2find ur soulmate.

  • steplawn1427. August 2010, 08:44

    congrates man.ur lucky2find ur soulmate.

  • David27. August 2010, 09:15

    Both ways: I met people in real life who I first saw online and I stay in contact with people online who I earlier met in real life. :)

  • steplawn1427. August 2010, 09:20

    I want2meet girls in reallife.Anyone hr using O,living in my city?

  • steplawn1427. August 2010, 09:29

    I want2meet girls in reallife for chat,share good time and more! wthin mutual interest.whether friendship or more,I like2keep in touch online whomever I met in real life.so dnt b shy,if ur feeling.............

  • dirk27. August 2010, 09:29

    Originally posted by sudeep13582:

    and with another one.. I am going to marry... :)


    ... congrats! :hat:

  • sehehjailani27. August 2010, 11:08

    selamat

  • Adonis dikosmoy of Olympian fields27. August 2010, 11:40

    Most of my off line friends are not online active.
    Like Angeliki i have the feeling that some my.O members are actually very close companions.
    Which is the opposite at Facebook. People that i know offline are there sort of acting, that is the feeling about that.


    @Wazzup@!
    confusing the internet with the web, I suppose?

  • steplawn1427. August 2010, 11:48

    life with others also confusing!donot u think!

About this article

Published inChoose Opera
DateAugust 26, 2010
AuthorEspen André Øverdahl
Tagsstate of the mobile web, beta, browser, campus crew, choose opera, chooseopera, community, contest, download, event, facebook, frontpage
OriginalInternet Archive

The Red O » Developers » Choose Opera » Ever met any of your online friends in real life?

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