These days, there are a plethora of ways for people to get back in contact with friends they’ve lost touch with. It used to be that if you lost an address or phone number, or if someone moved around a few too many times in a short time span, poof! They disappeared into the world somewhere, only to be rediscovered at a reunion or by some stroke of luck.
Then came cell phones and email addresses, and it became a little easier to keep track of someone because they could move and keep their old number or email address quite easily, particularly if they stayed in the same general area. However, I would venture to guess that very few people still have the same email address or cell phone number as the first one they ever had, and so the opportunity for some friends to slip through the cracks still remained.
Finally, came website designed to help people reconnect. This first batch of these were sites like Classmates and Reunion, (now known as mylife) which began mostly as a place to create a timeline of places where people went to school, work, military service, etc. If you saw someone you wanted to reach out to, you could send an email to their private email address through the site. Now, these sites have expanded somewhat to include places for updates, pictures, etc.
The latest batch of websites include things like myspace and facebook. These are mostly social sites where you can reach out to old friends and also update all of your contacts on what you’re doing on a daily or weekly (or hourly or minute-by-minute as some people seem to do) basis. You can post pictures, leave messages for each other easily, drop a quick line to say hi, play online games against each other, etc.
Although I signed up for Classmates back when I was in undergrad, I never did too much with it. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I joined the myspace community. And since then I have moved on to facebook. For me, there are three really great things about this:
- Keeping in touch with my friends I just moved away from. It’s so easy on facebook to send a quick comment to let them know you’re thinking about them. And it’s great to get updates to see what they’re up to.
- Getting back in touch with people I went to grade school with. There are a few girls I’ve been talking to that I went to school with for years… some of them for as many as nine years. We’ve recently started trying to make plans to get together now that I’m back in my hometown. I’m really looking forward to hanging out with them.
- Reconnecting with some of the many talented people I went to grad school with. It’s incredible to see what some of these people are up to and accomplishing… as well as very motivational.
So, if you haven’t already, I encourage you to go ahead and reach out… take the leap. You might just be pleasantly surprised at the friendships just waiting out there to be rekindled.
Originally posted for Examiner.com at http://www.examiner.com/article/reconnecting-with-old-friends-2