A friend relationship is two-way. You see their reviews, and they see yours. A following relationship is one-way. You see their reviews only. There are separate counts for friends and followers. You are included in each other's friend counts, but only one-way followers are included in your follow counts.
You can either be following someone or be their friend, not both. (There is one exception: authors who have a blog and/or are members of the Goodreads Author program.) In either case, you will see their reviews on your homepage when you have the appropriate filter settings.
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A friend relationship is two-way. You see their reviews, and they see yours. A following relationship is one-way. You see their reviews only. There are separate counts for friends and followers. You are included in each other's friend counts, but only one-way followers are included in your follow counts.
You can either be following someone or be their friend, not both. (There is one exception: authors who have a blog and/or are members of the Goodreads Author program.) In either case, you will see their reviews on your homepage when you have the appropriate filter settings.