How to Keep in Touch with Friends Online
Social Networking, Sharing Photos Online, Blogs and Online Journals
Busy lifestyles can make staying in touch with family and friends difficult. The internet can be the solution to keeping in contact.
Modern lifestyles can make maintaining relationships difficult. The need for more and more people to travel or move away from their hometown to study or find work results in many friends and families having to maintain long distance relationships. There are a variety of websites on the internet that can make keeping in touch and sharing photos and information easier.
Useful Websites
- Social Networking Sites – Facebook & MySpace – social networks that have facilities for sharing emails and photos with friends. MySpace is more blog oriented with space for comments from other users, Facebook users have the option of adding applications for communicating with friends (e.g. sending virtual gifts and hugs) and playing games such as Scrabble and Boggle online. In both cases, it is possible for users to have their profiles only viewable by accepted ‘friends’. Both sites also have age restrictions to join.
- Photo Sharing Sites – Flikr & Photobucket – a simple way to share photographs online with friends and family. Large quantities of photos can clog mail servers. By uploading photos to online photo sharing sites, users can create albums that can then be viewed by others. Privacy options are available by setting passwords to the accounts. Photobucket users can also upload videos.
- Online journals and blogs - sites such as LiveJournal, Blogger and Typepad. Journals can be made public, private or friends only, so content can be as personal as the writer likes. A great way to keep in touch with family and friends while travelling, while also acting as a travel diary.
Advantages
- One posting can cover multiple recipients. Instead of sending multiple emails with large photo attachments, photos can be uploaded to the required site once. This saves time and effort.
- Recipients can choose when to view your photos or read about your latest adventures, postponing it until they have sufficient time. General email downloads are not blocked or slowed down while home computers struggle to download emails with large photo attachments.
- Sites with RSS feeds enable friends who subscribe to the feed see immediately when the journal or blog has been updated.
Drawbacks to Consider
- Security is an important issue and it is always worth considering what level of privacy a site offers before sharing personal details online. Many of the sites mentioned above offer some level of privacy with password access or approval needed by the original user.
- Remember that nothing is ever 100% secure. Avoid displaying your date of birth and/or home address.
- It is too easy to replace actual human contact with virtual relationships. Maintaining healthy relationships still requires time and effort, even when utilising the many advantages available over the net.
The internet has revolutionised many aspects of daily life. Take advantage of the many benefits offered by online social networks, journals and photo sites to keep in touch with friends and family.
The copyright of the article How to Keep in Touch with Friends Online in Internet is owned by Susan Whelan. Permission to republish How to Keep in Touch with Friends Online in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
