It is easier than ever to keep in touch with your family using all the new technology.  This post will explore some of the methods I use.  The first one, is e-mail.  Most people now how to use that, at a minimum.  If you have older family members who are not technology savvy, you can alway send those few people snail mail, but you would be surprised how many of them are online and know how to do at least the basics of e-mail.  Most, if not all, e-mail services allow you to create a group of your contacts.  This is a good way to send information only to your family members about upcoming events or announcements.  Once you have added everyone to a group, you can send a message to the whole group at once without having to individually pick or type in their e-mail addresses.  It is also easy to update if anyone changes their e-mail.

There are several online applications you can use in addition to e-mail, including Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and MyFamily.  They each have different options and capabilities.  The first three are basically social networking sites where people can post their personal profile information, pictures, videos, contact information, etc.  These are free and easy to sign up for and may help you find a lot of the younger generations of your family.  You can send messages through most of them that will be private for the person receiving them.  You can also create Bulletins and messages that everyone sees.

MyFamily is used to set up your own custom family website.  They walk you through the steps and only your family members will be able to see your site, after they log in.  This site has been helpful with my large family since it allows me to post messages, create polls, add pictures, list events in a calendar and send mass e-mails to everyone on the list.  It has also been invaluable in allowing me to quickly find addresses or phone numbers for family members.  There is a charge for creating a site on here, they have a few different plans depending on how much space you need.  I have found that it has been well worth the money to have this connection with my family.

With all these tools available, get out there and get in touch with your family!  If you have any questions on any of these services, please submit a comment and I will try to help.