Since the launch of Facebook and Skype, it has never been easier for expatriates who have relocated abroad to keep in touch with friends and family back home. No matter where you are and what time of day it is, sending a message is just a click-of-a-button away. 
Social networking
Social networking sites are one of the most popular ways to stay in touch with friends and family. In Facebook you can post live updates about what you’ve been up to, upload photos, chat with friends and send private messages. You’re bound to reunite with an old work colleague or childhood friend as well as connect with other local expats or local groups. Joining virtual groups in your area or local business groups is also a good way to associate with like minded people.
Another popular social networking site is Twitter. Friends and family are able to follow your profile, meaning that every time you update your status – they’ll be able to see it.
Alongside photo sharing websites, Youtube has become a video sharing phenomenon. With an easy search tool, loved ones can just enter your username and watch all your videos. You should encourage others back home to do this too so you can still feel close to them and that way you can mark your favourite ones so you can watch them time and time again.
A lot of people that relocate abroad keep a blog of the things they get up to. A blog is a short entry usually describing your day or how you’re feeling and blogging sites like wordpress.com or tumblr.com are easy and convenient ways to write a passage to a wide audience. Instead of typing different messages or emails to lots friends and family, blogging allows everybody to see what you write. It’s also a good memory bank as it stores your blog posts by date, time and topic, enabling you to look back on your entries in years to come.
Sharing your photos and videos online
Having relocated to a new location, it’s inevitable you’ll have taken hundreds of photos and will want to share them with people back home. Photo applications such as flickr.com have been designed to manage and share your photos easily – it’s simply a case of uploading your pictures and giving them a caption. This is a great way of allowing your friends and family a chance to see your new life and destination at any given time of day.
Instant messaging
If typing isn’t for you, then how about using an internet calling programme? Skype allows you to chat to your friends and family via web-cam, free of charge. This type of technology has also been made possible by Apple, who have created a FaceTime application for users that have an iPhone. It works in the same way as Skype, but is only available to Apple customers
If you’re not as tech savvy as some people out there, there’s still email! Email is great as it allows you to write as much or as little as you want and send it to whomever you want. You can attach photos, documents and videos to your email, send e-cards on special occasions and keep a log of your conversations without having to memorise everyone’s updates!
Whether you’d prefer to chat face-to-face over a webcam or to blog your message to the world, you need to find something that is effective and easy to manage in your every-day life, no matter where you are in the world. The bottom line is that you need to find a method that works for you