To follow or to be friends?

When I joined AFF, I sent authors, bloggers, reviewers beta-readers that I like friend requests so I could have alert about their new stories and new blogs. But since it has been developed the "follow author" function visible when you are directly on a story or a blog, be "friends" with someone or follow someone is nearly the same. So now, the said friends could be far less numerous than the followed persons, assuming that friends are the one who are the closest. What is your opinion about this point ? I can only see two differences: "friends-only"on blogs or stories; and make someone more than a follower acquaintance but a "friend".
lilith9999 5 years ago
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.It was a difficult question to ask, like a sensitive topic. So thank you for your answer.
[deactivated] 5 years ago
I agree with your statement. Following an author is basically like friending an author, however being friends just gives you friends-only access. So there's not much difference unless that author has a lot of friends-only things, and if you want to be close to them. If you don't want to be friends with the few authors you friended, like me, you can just unfriend and just follow. Especially the authors you haven't personally talked to anyway