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by dvtrn 1372 days ago
I made the conscious effort before leaving Facebook to trade phone numbers, addresses and birthday dates from the people I wanted to really wanted stay in touch with, and put them in my phone. This was all within the last three years.

I’ve sent birthday gifts in the mail, and I’ve gotten gifts in mail from these very people.

Sometimes, when I wonder where the convenience that gets talked about in the context of Facebook and “staying in touch” ends and a more delicate form of “you’re probably not as close to some of the people on your friends list as you think” (which was absolutely the case for me) begins.

It took really minimal effort on my part to find other ways of staying in touch, but I think maybe the key is you have to WANT to stay in touch with people?

Just a shower thought.
5 comments
avgDev 1372 days ago
I'm doing this too and it has been great for me in general.

I looked at my fb friends and thought to myself which people I really liked and would like to reconnect with. I messaged "facebook friends" I have not talked to in a while and told them it may seem weird but I really would like to reconnect. I have never done anything like this, as I am extremely prone to losing touch with people.

I ended up reconnecting with a few people in real life and it has been great. I also plan on sending cards and stuff.

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pfortuny 1372 days ago
I do send postcards and people like it so much they ask me not to stop.
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badwolf 1372 days ago
Big fan of this. I also print and mail memes and photoshops I make to people. It's nice getting something in the mail that's not a bill.
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ticviking 1372 days ago
The art of deliberately staying in touch has been lost, and taking the time and effort to do so makes one stand out.
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robert204 1372 days ago
Same. I've been pretty happy with Clay (https://clay.earth). They just rolled out a Facebook birthdays integration and between that and Linkedin / iMessage it has most of the people I care about seeing.
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JohnFen 1372 days ago
This is a really good point. It explains why I didn't actually lose touch with anyone I didn't want to lose touch with after I left Facebook.

In fact, my bonds with them actually strengthened.

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