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The Internet and Email For The Over 50s: Social networking for the over 50s

by Bob Reeves

You may have heard of MySpace and Facebook. These are what are known as social networking websites and are a relatively new and incredibly popular phenomenon on the internet. In simple terms a social network is a bunch of friends. In real life you might meet friends through work, social events or mutual associates. On the internet the same connections exist with the difference being that you meet them over the internet and may never meet them in real life.

Sites such as MySpace and Facebook are very popular with younger people and many use the sites to organise their social lives. However, they are not entirely the domain of young people and there are many older people using them too. In addition to these two well-known web sites there are thousands of other web sites where you can network with other people, many of which are specifically for older people.

The basics of how these work is that you set up a ‘profile’ of yourself which can include your personal details and maybe some photographs. You can then invite people to be your friend on the network and in turn you will be invited to be other people’s friends. You can then communicate with these people using text messages or even see and speak to them using a web cam.


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