As of today, my sister has set off to work in New York. Although I will miss her dearly, the wonders of the internet let me keep in touch to the point of being overwhelming. We all know about IM, Skype, Facebook etc, however I recently discovered the wonders of Twitter, and how it can keep my family connected at all times. My conclusion? Twitter, its not just for geeks.

My family are all very close, we all let each other know what we are up to and what is going on. In the past, this has resulted in a string of phone calls, passing on messages from one another when not at the computer. I knew there must be a way to stream line this, so I set off to face the daunting task of connecting my sometimes not-so-open to new technologies family via Twitter, and with my sister overseas, I had a great excuse. “Micro-blogging”? Even I don’t know what that means, let alone trying to explain it to the rest of the clan, I had to have a simple configuration.
Firstly, I setup accounts for everyone and configured their cell phones and IM’s to work with Twitter, then I connected us all together and made sure our comments were set on private (I didn’t want Tim to know what my mum was making me for dinner). I then sat them down and proceeded to explain how it worked. Blank stares.

“Why can’t I just text you guys?”

“Because you will be overseas, and it will cost more. Plus we will all receive your message without you having to send it 3 times.”

Frustration set in. Finally however, they seemed to get it. By having us all connected, a member of the family could ask a question or say what they were doing. If one of us was not at our computer we would receive it on our cell phone, and could reply from there or jump on a computer. After many “Hello you twit” messages from my father, everyone seemed to understand the basic workings. The realisation set in however a few hours after my sisters take off.

“Kasmira: Arrived in Sydney, flight was good. Boarding flight to LAX in a few hours.”

We all received the update in our separate locations, although my father insisted on calling me to tell me that Kas had landed in Sydney. “I know Dad, thanks.” A couple hours later, another message.

“Kasmira: Hello, I’m on the internet at the airport. On Google Talk if you want to chat.”

Now my parents really understood! We all rushed to our computers and had a chat. Although I don’t think Twitter will replace email/IM, it does help you stay connected even when you’re away from your computer. In my case, this is especially helpful when in different timezones and when international rates apply. I can even send a message straight to my mums phone from my IM at work asking her to drop some food off at my house!

So if you’re like me, and have an over-protective and highly/annoyingly communicative family, get Twittering!

P.s Michelle Slatalla of the NY Times has written a great article on how she tried to get her family using twitter. Read it here.