Friendship Day was such a rage back in school! Friendship bands, handwritten greetings cards, a shared meal at the school canteen, millennial Friendship Day is nostalgia, premium version. Then came social media, and everything changed. The shift from handwritten notes to digital likes, aesthetic carousels and trending reels tells one story – that every generation has its way of saying ‘I’m glad you exist in my life.’ This Friendship Day, we look back at the digital evolution from a millennial’s perspective, who refuses to move on from the Orkut era.
The Orkut era is where it all began
Rewind to the early 2000s. If you were a teenager or in your early twenties during that time, chances are you were on Orkut, the first social networking site that truly caught on in India. Orkut wasn’t just a platform, it was a whole vibe! Remember scraps that you could send to your friends, for the world to read in your scrapbook. On Friendship Day, your scrapbook would overflow with ‘Happy Friendship Day’ wishes, glittery GIFs, and the holy grail of digital affection– testimonials. If a friend sent you a testimonial, it was elite friendship!
What were these testimonials? These were heartfelt paragraphs from your friends, sometimes (well, mostly) cheeky, sometimes poetic, often in loud pink or blue fonts. It was almost a ritual to ask your besties for one, or return the favour with an ‘u rock yaar’ and ‘friends 4evr’ typed in CAPS.
Life on Orkut was cool, hip, and all things nice. Until the cooler cousin decided to show up and show who’s the real boss!
The Facebook era of new and cooler things, like ‘pokes’
As Facebook took over, it was the beginning of the end for Orkut. On Facebook, expressions of friendship went from private scraps to public posts. In the 2010s, it was all about the same cheeky messages, but on Facebook status updates and through poorly edited photo collages. People would post 50-photo albums of school memories or a throwback collage with every friend tagged.
Online photo editing apps became the rage at the time, because Facebook photos had to look PERFECT!
Friendship bands went from physical to virtual, swapped out for likes, hearts, and long comment threads. Next up, the WhatsApp era.
The WhatsApp years of ‘Forward this to 5 friends’
By mid-2010s, it was the era of WhatsApp forwards and messages! Our phones started getting flooded with forwards every Friendship Day. From cloyingly sentimental messages and flowers made of ASCII characters to glittery GIFs with ‘True friends are like stars,’ and more, these forwards were not just limited to friends. These were shared across family groups, college chats, and work friend circles. While still cheesy, they did remind us of simpler times, when we didn’t need a trending reel to feel loved, just a forwarded message and an emoji-laden reply would do the trick.
Instagram was the gamechanger
Cut to the late 2010s and now 2020s, we live in the age of Instagram, and with that, the concept of Friendship Day virtual greetings have changed forever. Today if a reel comes up on your feed with the audio of ‘Count on Me’, you will know it’s a Friendship Day reel. Lame isn’t in the dictionary anymore. Today’s Instagram posts are far more curated, aesthetic, and algorithm-friendly. And also, Instagram lingo-friendly . ‘Bestie’, ‘OG’, ‘my homegirl/homie’ are the new norm now.
Long testimonials or collages have now been taken over by a well-shot candid, or even a voice note on DMs and that’s the new rule of showing affection. Trends like ‘Rate your friends from school to now’ or ‘Who would you call if you’re stranded?’ dominate our feeds. Even brands and influencers jump in with friendship-themed content, turning an emotional day into shareable, bite-sized nostalgia.
During this evolution from friendship bands to Orkut to now Insta, we might be constantly adapting to the world around us, but the true friendships are the ones that’s still rooted in connection.
This Friendship Day, whether you send a meme, a voice note, or just an old selfie, remember that it’s not about how you say it, but that you said it.
