Virtual Relationship

This is another article from Eureka Street; a response to Pope Benedict's World Day of Social Communications address, which I commented on in my post 'The Pope and the Internet'.
Pope's guide to social networking

I found the second last paragraph particularly interesting:

Ultimately all communication is mediated. It takes place through symbols. In face to face communication, for example, we are always interpreting signs. We read people's faces, compare what we see with the inner image we have of them, and adjust our image by what we learn in the new exchange. The same engagement between image and the encounter takes place in writing and in internet communication. 

This really relates to our discussion on my post

Another Film about Facebook: 'Catfish'.

All communication has a large virtual component, as in the "opposite of real, physical, or absolute"sense.  

I enjoyed Margaret's comment on the article:

margaret03 Feb 2011
A Church built largely on the blogging and messaging of one Saul of Tarsus should surely welcome such a generous endorsement of contemporary means of communication...

 Of course Paul's communication through his letters was built on plenty of face to face communication, but it is the letters that have had the lasting impact.