Better Health & Living
Meet New Friends
There are dozens of great sites where you can connect with someone just like you
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Friends are good medicine. For the past 30 years, study after study has documented the health benefits of being connected to others. And with the advent of the Internet, getting connected has a whole new meaning. Online social networks are the Web’s fastest-growing trend. You’ve probably heard about popular sites such as MySpace.com and Facebook.com, but there are also many others tailored to specific audiences and interests. Social networking sites connect members with friends and provide an online meeting place for users to interact. Common services include chat rooms, e-mail, image and video posting, blogs, discussion groups, and sometimes events in the physical world as well.
Social Networking
www.bebo.com provides its 34 million members with the ability to create personal pages, write blogs, post pictures, send e-mail, and create “skins” for their pages by uploading their own graphics. The site also has areas for authors and musicians to post their work. The first step for parents and children should be reviewing Bebo’s safety videos by clicking on “Safety” at the bottom of all Bebo pages. You must be 13 or older to use the site. Bebo integrates with Windows Live Messenger and AOL’s AIM so you can “instant message” new friends.
www.myspace.com, which is now owned by Fox Interactive Media, hosts more than 200 million registered users worldwide and is the most popular social networking site in the United States. You can set up personal pages, friends networks, and photo pages, plus post videos and blogs and create and join groups. You can enter descriptive blurbs in topics such as “about me” and “who I’d like to meet” as well as personal interests. Friends can leave comments on your page when they visit. You have to be age 14 to register, and all profiles of members ages 14 and 15 are automatically set to private, meaning only accepted friends can access them. Many organizations, politicians, musicians, and actors have MySpace pages to keep in touch with their supporters and fans. Check out some of the 28,000 groups devoted to health, wellness, and fitness, such as BodyBuilding, Natural Me, or Yoga Beatitude.
www.meetup.com takes online social networking to the next level: Members actually “meet up” in person. There are thousands of interest groups, from moms to camera buffs to dachshund owners, divided by locale, who connect online and then arrange to get together for some face time. Not long ago, most of Montreal’s Meetup groups had a picnic, and in one city, the photography group recently held its first exhibition.
www.43things.com is a social networking site devoted to goals and dreams that has more than 1.2 million members. You can get inspiration from people who have similar goals; for example, at last count, 26,387 members were trying to lose weight. Hang out with people who want to run a marathon or just wake up when their alarms go off. Making a list of your goals is a great start toward achieving them. Dream on.
www.facebook.com has more than 48 million active users and connects people with friends in their communities. Members can share photos, videos, news, blogs, and profiles. The site has groups associated with companies, regions, and schools, with more than 55,000 regional, work-related, college, and high-school networks, as well as others based on interests, such as music, books, or movies. One of Facebook’s fastest growing demographics is the over-25 group. Available privacy options let you limit who can see your postings.
www.yelp.com provides “real-people” reviews of local restaurants, shops, spas, and other businesses plus comments on local services that are both helpful and sometimes funny. Yelp started in San Francisco but has spread; there are now Yelp communities in dozens of cities across the United States. Once you’ve created a free profile, you can review businesses and events and add your comments to other reviews. Yelp also sponsors local activities such as parties and charity events where “yelpers” can get together. Join your local city’s community and get a newsletter listing events in your area. My son found Yelp to be a great way to meet new friends when he moved to LA.
Eileen Buckholtz is president of Technology Concepts, a Web design and e-marketing company; a professor of e-business for the University of Phoenix Online; and the author of more than a dozen computer books.
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