Facebook
Twelve million Australians are on Facebook and there are some 850 million worldwide - there must be someone you know amongst those!
Facebook has long lost the image of a fad indulged in by teenagers with time on their hands. Many families are now keeping in touch through Facebook, grandmas and grandkids, parents with children living away from home, siblings.
Unlike Skype, Facebook is a place where you can observe if you don't want to actively engage with people. You can look at your newsfeed and see what your family and friends are doing. You can drop the odd like or comment to let them know that you are interested and following what they do. It can make a huge difference to how close you feel to these people who you may not get to see on a regular basis. They can share their holiday snaps and you can follow their trip as it happens. New babies, birthdays, weddings or their latest craze, new shoes, a celebration dinner. You can dip into as much or as little as you want of the things your friends and family have shared with you. If you want it to be a bit more of a two way street then you can also post your own updates that your friends and family can see and comment on.
Facebook also has its own message service that works very like email and you can even video call people as you can on Skype and send files etc.
But Facebook is also a place where you can interact with businesses, celebrities and interest groups. By "Liking" pages you can get their latest news, competitions and offers.
And something that people forget when they complain about Facebook changes and glitches - it is a free service!
Skype
Skype has been around for about ten years and the word has entered the language - we now talk about Skyping people. The software is free to download from www.skype.com and easy to install. To make full use of it you will need a webcam and a microphone, although if you have a laptop these are pretty standard these days.
Setting up your account is as easy as you would expect- user name, email address, password - these are all the normal things that you are asked for when setting up stuff. Then you're ready to Skype- but who? You can import contacts from your email service, even Facebook. You can search for people you know. And just as you now collect people's email addresses, you can ask them for their Skype ID and add them manually to your contacts.
Free - yes, calling Skype to Skype is free. You can talk to anyone anywhere in the world for free if you are both logged into Skype. Great for families scattered across the globe. You can also use Skype to call a phone but there is a charge for this. You can buy Skype credit much as you might for your mobile phone. The rates are generally very reasonable you are charged a local rate appropriate for the country you are calling rather than an international one.
Skype can also be used for Instant Messaging. You can send text messages to your friends when they are logged into Skype and carry on a real time conversation. If they are not at their computer at the time, they will see your message the next time they look at Skype.
Conference calling, sending files, sharing screens - this is a powerful piece of software that makes excellent use of your internet connection. If you haven't tried it- check it out. You're sure to find it a great way for keeping in touch. And there's nothing that can make you feel closer to people than being able to see and talk to them and Skype is great for this.
