Apart from using the internet as an informational resource, you can also use it as a means of communication with fellow workers, family, friends, or complete strangers! There are a number of ways you can do this and I will discuss some of them below:
Social Networking Sites:
These are special websites that allow users to sign up for a free (usually) account and have their own profile on the site which other people can view. The profile can have as many personal details as you like and you can include your photos, videos, thoughts, contact details etc.. Other people can add you as a ‘friend’ from your profile page which means that you are linked and can interact with each other more easily and use all kinds of fun methods to communicate.
There are quite a lot of these sites about at the minute but the most popular ones include: mySpace (music related), youTube (video related), Facebook (college/mature related), linkedIn (business/professional related) and Bebo (kids!). The choice is yours!
Instant Messaging:
This type of communication involves downloading special free (usually) software to your computer, installing it and running it. Once its up and running you can add your friend’s contact details to it and start communicating with them in real time either by typing instant messages on your computer keyboard or if you have a headset with headphones and a microphone you can actually talk with them just like a phone call. Best thing is that this form of communication is TOTALLY FREE and its becoming a more and more popular way to talk to people, so much so that traditional phone companies are scared! Examples of this type of software are MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and Skype.
Both of the types of internet communication above can be combined on a new site called Meebo which allows both online website profiles and online instant chat as well as the ability to create your own topical chat rooms.
All in all the internet is a great place to go to communicate with people from all over the world – if you’re into that sort of thing, ie, people!
Leon.
Reverb Studios Design 