Social Networking
The Internet makes it possible to meet and share with people all over the world. You may think that no one else could possibly be interested in the same things as you, but you will be pleasantly surprised!
What is a social network?
Social networking in plain English (video).
The Elder-friendly Guide to Social Networking.
The online community for boomers!
growingbolder.com: It’s about attitude!
Linkedin (business and professional networking)
Facebook: 300 million active users – 8 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day – fastest growing demographic is those 35 years old and older. I dare you to look at these stats!
Photo Sharing
With the advent of digital photography, photo sharing has become one of the most popular social activities on the Internet. For example, Facebook reports that more than select photos and 14 million videos are uploaded to the site each month. The largest Internet service dedicated exclusively to photo sharing, called Flickr, has over 40 million registered users and celebrated its 40 billionth photo upload last month.
Perhaps you are one who feels a little uncomfortable at the idea of putting your photographs on the Internet. You might be concerned about safety, or privacy. But you have to admit that the statistics cited above indicate that something very positive and beneficial is going on.
Open your mind and bear with me for a few minutes and I will tell you why millions of people are sharing their photos online, and how they do it.
Online photo albums are the easiest, and least expensive, way to share important events, good times and special occasions with friends and family. When you upload pictures you have the option of making them visible to everyone, members of certain groups (like your family, for example) or just yourself. You can make it possible for people who see your pictures to make comments, or not. You can see the photos that others have posted, as well. Many of them will be available to use for your own purposes.
Flickr even has an association with Getty images, which is the world’s largest stock photograph provider. That means that they buy images from photographers and resell them. If you choose, you can allow Getty representatives to browse your photographs and perhaps even offer to sell them for you.
I want to mention one other important thing that is often overlooked by people who are considering online photo sharing: the sharing services are an easy form of backup for one of your most important assets. When people are asked what they would try to save in the face of an impending disaster, they typically mention three things, in this order: family members, pets and photographs. When you upload your pictures to an online photo sharing service, they will be there no matter what happens to your home. This, in itself, justifies the time spent in learning how to put photos online.
There are many things to look for in a photo sharing service. This link lays them out and evaluates 10 of the most popular services for your review. They even offer you an opportunity to register for a service if you’d like.
Video Sharing
According toThe Nielsen Company, the world’s leading marketing and media information company, online video consumption shows huge growth. According to Nielsen, there were 11 billion video streams watched by 139 million unique users in September, 2009. This was a growth rate of 24.8% and 11.3%, respectively, over September, 2008. The majority of the videos that were watched were contributed by amateur video enthusiasts, including what we commonly know as “home video.”
The largest video sharing service in the world, by far, is YouTube, which is a subsidiary of Google. The reasons for engaging a video sharing service are pretty much the same as the reasons given for participating in photo sharing services, above. This link will provide you with details.
