New gen social media has a profound influence on my day to day life. In the earlier times, surface mail and operator assisted calls were relatively difficult and time consuming. One of the reasons for losing contacts with some of the childhood friends.

Email was a revelation. Through it a number of lost contacts were re-established. But an unwitting mixing of mail ids resulted in losing at least one priceless contact and I am still searching for her.

Then comes the flood of new generation contact mediums. I am not able to list or use all of them. But here’s a list of some of them.

First it’s a disclaimer. I have a Twitter account, but I don’t have a hang of it. No idea what a hashtag is used for. Someday I may master it.

FaceTime is the favorite for the family with everyone using Apple devices 

Whatsapp!!! Well, what will I do without it. It’s not a good idea to be in a group. However there are somethings we want a group of people to be connected. I use the broadcast group for this. I can reach a wider audience and the recipient will not know who else is in it and any response is only to me. Anyone interested to join my ‘cooking exotica’ and ‘HIgh Density Manngo planting ‘ groups, please let me know.

I keep in touch with my most favorite on whatsapp. Though I am willing to be connected too frequently, I am cautious of boredom setting in on the other end. As such the glass here is always half full.

And use WHATSAPP calls, it’s free.

Facebook is everyone’s darling. The problem here is the numerous prowlers. They are always there but will never reveal their presence. They absorb everything, look at all your posts and photos but will never like or comment.

I use fb to see how many likes and comments I get on my publications. So if you happen to see something from me, please react.

I keep fb private. Politics and religion has no place there. I wish I could get more friends but there are restrictions…

LinkedIn is for business. Almost. I have some 3000 connections here. Valuable list.

And now a new favorite is Instagram. Here you get to follow your favorites and get followed. Photos are used as communication and believe me it’s very effective. I follow one of the top favorites everyday and that inspires her (I think) to be more active on it. The huge distance and different time zone are irrelevant and we connect as if we’re sitting across and sharing happy movements. I hope to get all my favorites regularly on Instagram.

I think I covered most. Surely they keep one happy and it’s the most important….