5 ways to keep in touch with family and friends online
By Armelle O'Neal
By taking advantage of technology and an Internet connection, you can keep in touch with the important people in your life (such as your spouse, kids, friends, colleagues, customers, and kindred spirits). In this article, I'll discuss five tools you can use to communicate with others regardless of location and time zone.
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E-mail
Electronic mail, or e-mail, has been widely used since the 1990s to communicate online. It seems like everyone—from kids to grandparents, small business owners to corporate workers—uses e-mail daily to connect with others and communicate quickly.
In addition to using e-mail to keep in touch with my family during the day, I have found e-mail to be a great way for me to keep in touch with my oldest son's teacher. I can ask her for clarification on specific homework issues or e-mail her a completed book report when our home printer is not cooperating.
I use Microsoft Office Outlook for my e-mail at work, but for my personal e-mail I also use MSN Hotmail and Outlook Express.
Outlook 2003 helps you organize and read your e-mail, as well as manage a calendar.
Benefits | • | Fast and easy to use | | • | Send and read messages anytime | | • | Send to as few or as many people as you want to | | • | Messages can be personal or general, short or long | | • | Can be customized (by using templates and by attaching files, pictures, or video clips) |
| Challenges | • | Messages can be forwarded to others without your permission | | • | Messages are not interactive unless constantly sending and receiving | | • | Can be perceived as impersonal | | • | Recipients may not read your message in timely manner, or at all | | • | Vulnerable to spam and e-mail viruses |
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More information
5 great Outlook Express tips
Write e-mails that get noticed
4 ways to take control of your e-mail Inbox
Instant messaging
Instant messaging (IM) is a type of communications service that you can use to create a private chat room with one or more individuals to communicate in real time over the Internet. IM is similar to a telephone conversation but uses text-based messages instead of voice-based communication.
Typically, the instant messaging service alerts you whenever somebody on your contact list is online. You can then initiate a chat session with one particular individual. You can also invite additional people who are online to join the conversation. I use instant messaging daily with my oldest son: We chat before he heads to school (and I'm already in the office) and when he gets home so that I can talk about his day and what his plans for the rest of the day are (they usually involve soccer practices, chess games, and violin lessons along with play dates).
Windows Live Messenger and Windows Messenger are just two of the instant messaging programs you can use.
The Conversation pane in Windows Messenger
Benefits | • | Fast and easy to use | | • | Good for real-time, interactive communication | | • | Good for quick question-and-answer sessions | | • | Several people can participate simultaneously | | • | Can see and hear each other when using Web cameras and microphones during your IM conversation |
| Challenges | • | Seen as a distraction in some environments | | • | Some IM programs aren't private and pose security risks | | • | People you want to chat with must be online when you are | | • | Exchanges can be saved, and then forwarded to others without your permission |
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More information
10 tips for safer instant messaging
Using IM: Know the lingo (and 4 other tips)
Get started with Windows Messenger
Web site
A Web site is a collection of files on the Web that usually consists of a home page with links to additional documents, files, graphics, and pictures. Web sites provide a very good way to communicate broadly with others and share information with family and friends. A family Web site is particularly useful for chronicling life-changing events, such as marriages and births, and for posting pictures of your home and neighborhood to give family members, such as grandparents and far-away relatives, an idea of what your family's day-to-day life is like.
My husband created a Web site when our youngest son was born so that near and far-away friends and family could keep in touch with us through these wonderful while stressful early days. We posted updated pictures regularly and chronicled all of the early milestones (my favorite being the first "sleep through the night" milestone!). We also created a page for our oldest son so that he could share his thoughts about the big changes taking place in our family.
There are lots of online services you can use to create a site without having to have any technology background. For example, you can use Windows Live Spaces to easily create sites where you can post pictures and share your thoughts. You can have your site up and running—with pictures—in less than 10 minutes. If you're more advanced, you can create a site using Microsoft Office FrontPage.
Benefits | • | Content can be updated anytime | | • | Access can be restricted by requiring a password | | • | Can post a wide variety of content, including images, audio files, and animation | | • | Can easily distribute a lot of information to large groups of people |
| Challenges | • | Can be time-consuming to build and maintain | | • | Communication is one way |
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More information
FrontPage 2003: The basics
Keep in touch with MSN Spaces
Create a family photo gallery
Online groups
An online group is a great way to keep in touch with people that share one of your passions, hobbies, or interests (for example, people who enjoy building model airplanes, organic gardening, or reading books written by a certain author). It is also a good way to provide support to people in similar situations (for example, single parents, people with the same medical condition, and people whose children attend the same school).
My oldest son's elementary school has an online group that is used to share information ranging from school district decisions to ads for kid-related items (such as jogging strollers, bicycles, and Halloween costumes) and reminders for school activities and events. It is a wonderful way to keep in touch with the school community, especially for parents who work fulltime and don't have the opportunity to roam the hallways of the school.
In addition to online groups set up for schools, visit MSN Groups to find people with similar interests.
Benefits | • | Easy to create, join, and use | | • | Messages can be posted anytime and read anytime |
| Challenges | • | Posts are sent to all members of the group (depending on their settings) | | • | Posts cannot be deleted | | • | Can be perceived as an impersonal method of communication |
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More information
Find tools, tips, and downloads at the Windows XP Expert Zone community
Search for other Microsoft communities for home users
Blogs
A blog is an online journal made up of links and postings that are presented in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears first). The hosts of most blogs allow readers to add comments and discuss the posts. Most blogs are updated daily. They are a great way to broadly share day-to-day information, communicate ideas, and encourage discussions between the blogger and the readers as well as between the readers. After the 9/11 attacks in New York, blogs were used to convey information, thoughts, and feelings faster than by any previous method. On controversial issues as well as mainstream subjects, blogs have become a forum for public expression that can quickly reach people around the world.
One easy way to set up a blog is through Windows Live Spaces.
Benefits | • | Easy to find and use | | • | Messages can be short or long | | • | Can be customized by attaching files, pictures, and video clips |
| Challenges | • | Can have a much broader audience than you anticipate | | • | Posted messages can be shared with others without your permission | | • | Can expose the writer to feedback that ranges from positive messages to personal attacks |
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More information
Get started blogging
Blogging for business: 7 tips for getting started
Find weblogs about Microsoft technologies written by Microsoft employees
Keeping in touch with the people in your life, whether you communicate with them daily or only occasionally, is one of the keys to a successful and fulfilling life. By using the information presented in this column, you can take advantage of communication technology to establish, maintain, and develop professional and personal relationships that are long-lasting and rewarding.
