This may be very area- and kid-dependent, but this was around the age that my DD discovered boys- and I don't mean in the romantic sense. She found them to be refreshingly direct, with a distinct lack of that grill-drama that permeates many of the girlfriend interactions around that age. She also found them to have much more aligned interests, particularly in books and movies and board games. Social media/texting was definitely helpful in that boys were much more likely to have genuine conversations when they were not surrounded by other boys, and DD gradually found quite a few boys who grew to be her crowd.
I realize not all girls will find this useful, and I sometimes wonder if my DD is truly different in this regard, or if she has just been unlucky in that she has never found a local girl who is a true best friend in the idealized sense of the word. Even in high school, she has a lot of girl acquaintances, but the kids she shares most with tend to be boys.
