Announcing #FridayWithFriends

So here we are, Annie and I announcing #FridayWithFriends.

For a while now Annie and I have been chatting about launching “something” called #FridayWithFriends.   What form that “something” took we weren’t quite sure.  We thought about sticking to IGTV, maybe doing a podcast, or just doing what Annie and I do best, setting up a new website and social media channels.  We knew we wanted to celebrate friendship, to bring friends together into an online community with sharing posts online, recipes that focus on sharing with friends and more importantly, regular meet ups to help bring online friends together over tea and cake in real life too but we kept getting caught up in the planning.

Then earlier this week Annie said “why don’t we just do it on your blog, it fits with what you talk about already”.  And that was it.  It suddenly came to life, and so here we are, here it is.  The “something” is now a thing.

Annie and I met online, finally meeting in person at an event to promote hotel beds, and we have since gone on to share some amazing adventures together.  We have also met up regularly for a mooch around either a National Trust house or gardens so we can take photographs, chat and just generally hang out, catch up, and spend time plotting, offering support or trying to decide if we want a sausage roll or a piece of cake.

We first mentioned the idea of extending invitations to other people a couple of years ago and did wonder if we might call it Two Friends and a Thermos but that sounded all kinds of wrong.   Other stuff got in the way but the idea was always there and finally, this year, we have got our arses into gear and are now putting the plan out there.

Blogging used to feel very much like a community, one where everybody knew everybody else and we all online friends.   There were linkies and blog hops, awards ceremonies and conferences and it all just felt a bit more <fumbles for the right word> chummy.   Many people have talked online recently about feelings of isolation, of feeling they never get a chance to meet up with other creatives and so we want to do something about that.   Annie is all about the community building at Unsplash and I am all about the organising so we thought we would combine those strengths and do something together.

Over the years we have seen an increase in people saying how isolated they feel as bloggers, freelancers, content creators.  How working from home has a load of benefits but it is actually really lonely.  And we want to do something about that.  We want to bring people together, not just online but in real life too.

Every week, on a Friday (as if we even needed to spell that out) we will share a post that fits the #FridayWithFriends theme.  It might be a recipe for something
to share with friends, a story of friendship, a guest post on the theme of friendship, or plans of a future meet up we would love you to come along to.

We obviously also want to share your content too.  So if you have recipes you would like us to feature in round ups, or something that fits the themes on Instagram post using the #FridayWithFriends and we will share!

 

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