In fact, there are some who want to save the term mentoring and tele-mentoring only for these types of relationships. In this list, I have made a distinction between different forms of telementoring. There are two main roles that a mentor plays. One is providing expertise and the other is to serve a role model. In educational mentoring, the expertise is in a specific area and the role modeling helps the novice learn the necessary skills to enter or continue on a career path.
Social mentors help with personal development and serve as adult role models.
However, most of the resources and programs listed here are directed more toward educational mentoring than social mentoring. Telementor pair relationships are the most difficult to support as matching strangers requires a great deal of work on all sides. However, when a good match is found, the effects can be very powerful. While there have been a number of case students and some evaluation studies, tele-mentoring programs are relatively new. One finding that is often cited is that the mentors learn as much or more than the novices.