Communicating via the internet!

The web is not the same as the internet, although many of us use the terms interchangeably. In fact, without the internet the web wouldn’t exist. The web is simply where all the HTML pages that we use are located at on the actual internet. Did you know that? I didn’t!

We use the web to communicate in many different ways, so let’s take a look at a few of those ways.

Social Networking… we love to hate it! Social networking has changed the way people communicate for the rest of time. We used to have to call Grandma Opal on the phone to stay in touch. Now, she can be your friend on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc and see everything you share with all your friends and acquaintances. Cat pictures, funny anecdotes, fundraising opportunities for your kids school, stories of support for our military, volunteer opportunities…. it’s all there for sweet Grandma Opal to see.

Email… the professional paper trail! Email has allowed individuals and businesses of all sizes to communicate world wide in the blink of an eye. Messages can be as personal or as professional as you want them to be, mark if people have read them, send important copies of documents or invoices, or just a picture of your new baby or puppy. While not the most secure way of communicating, it can be made more secure by changing your settings around.

Wikis and blogs… everything you may or may not have wanted to know about anything under the sun! Anyone can create a blog or wiki fairly easily. Wikis and blogs allow people to talk about any and everything. Some blogs are about specific topics and how-to subjects, some blogs are people venting about how Jerry won’t stop taking their lunch out of the work fridge and everything in between. When you look through blogs, you’ll see every possible kind of information, some even use it as a journal just to put their feelings out there.

Podcasts and webcasts… information in an all new way! I just started listening to podcasts myself in the past 6 months. Podcasts and webcasts can be so many different things. Some are stories being read, chapter by chapter. Some are interviews of people talking about any and everything under the sun. Similar to wikis and blogs, topics on podcasts can be about any kind of information that the creator wants to talk about. I myself have really enjoyed several podcast types, true crime podcasts where they explore unsolved crimes, stories, celebrity interviews. It’s changed the way I enjoy my quiet time.

Streaming media… who doesn’t love to stream! We use streaming services in our day to day life in todays world. Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, YouTube… the options are endless. It allows us to watch whatever we want, when we want to. The servers of these services hold tv shows, movies, plays, etc so they are always available.

Streaming has changed my life with all of these ways to communicate. How has it changed your life?