New Media Technology News
New Media Technology News

BluMail Social Media Sites Provide New, Deeper and More Compelling Ways for People to Connect and Learn from Each Other

BluMail (http://www.blumail.org) – the leading online portal that helps people in developing nations find information and resources for improving their lives – now offers three, unique, social media Web sites that enable users to forge stronger, more meaningful connections compared with alternative sites.

Accessible via BluMail’s homepage, Read/Share a Story, What Do You Think? and The Remembering Site enable anyone with Internet access to share his or her life experiences – whether a single, important incident or a complete memoir or something in between. Users can read each other’s postings and then easily connect with those facing similar circumstances, issues and/or challenges. BluMail’s three, complementary formats for sharing something about oneself allow users to get to know each other in a deeper way than is possible on today’s other popular social media sites.

This “trifecta” of social networking Web sites supports BluMail’s broader mission of promoting meaningful connections, cultural understanding and networking among people everywhere throughout the world, regardless of geographic and other barriers.

“We developed these BluMail sub-sites so people could truly benefit from what anyone has learned through both common and extraordinary life experiences,” said Sarah McCue, Founder and Chair of BluMail and its parent organization, BluWorld. “You can’t get that value from most of today’s other popular social media sites where, for example, you only get snippets of often trivial information about things like your friend’s excitement that he got upgraded to first class on his latest business trip, two-sentence review of a new movie or nostalgia for the five toys that remind him of his childhood.”

Read/Share a Story (http://blumail.org/shareastory) is a shorter format option for people who want to share their insights, advice and/or wisdom about a memorable event. This BluMail sub-site is an active repository for the diverse stories of people everywhere of all ages and from all walks of life – sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, artists, entrepreneurs, educators, office workers, political activists, scientists, students, taxi drivers, waitresses and more. Anyone can post his or her own story, along with a photograph, and also see those posted by others. Whether funny, poignant, triumphant, indignant or nostalgic, these stories are invariably powerful and everyone is bound to find some that resonate.

Using a double-blind, secure email system that prevents users from seeing each other’s email addresses, anyone can easily connect via email with people who have posted stories that inspire them. Eventually, BluMail plans to publish a book of the most inspiring memoirs to make these stories even more widely available.

What Do You Think? (http://blumail.org/whatdoyouthink) is geared for the person who is not interested in writing about his or her experiences or memories – who doesn’t want to share a story – but would like to quickly create a snapshot of his or her personality, values and motivations. Based on the renowned Proust Questionnaire, it is a more structured format of 35 thought-provoking questions that the respondent answers in one sentence each. The questionnaire has its origins in a 19th century parlor game popularized (although not created) by the celebrated French writer, Marcel Proust, who believed that an individual’s answers to these questions revealed his or her true nature. Questionnaire respondents can opt to allow others to privately comment on their answers through BluMail’s double-blind, secure email system.

Featured on Senator Bill Bradley’s radio show, “American Voices,” The Remembering Site (www.therememberingsite.org) makes it simple and fun for anyone to write, share, archive, continually update and publish his or her life story. Although not everyone is able to leave money, jewelry or land as an inheritance for his or her children and grand kids, everyone can leave the most precious thing of all – an account of the family history and legacy. Non-relatives, too, will find The Remembering Site valuable because it is an Internet-based anthology of personal histories chronicling life experiences and lessons.

Because most people are likely to be overwhelmed at the prospect of writing their own memoirs and may not even know where to start, The Remembering Site makes it easy by asking users to answer 1,000-plus, evocative questions that elicit key details and memories from their lives. Also, professional writers are available (for a fee) to interview users and help complete their biographies. Upon completion, a user can make his/her autobiography available for others to read on this site or print and distribute quality paperback or hardback copies.

To date, people from all over the world have used The Remembering Site to write their life stories – people from Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Cuba, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Philippines, Sudan, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

About BluMail

BluMail is an online community for anyone, anywhere, especially youth in developing countries, to find information and resources for improving their lives, local communities and countries. BluMail offers free email accounts as well as “make-a-difference” content and a networking and activism portal for the millions of people gaining access to the Internet in coming years as well as for those who are socially responsible in any country. BluMail partners with U.N. groups, other NGOs, nonprofits and technology companies to provide support and Web site content to raise global awareness of their missions. For more information and to register for a BluMail email account, please visit http://www.blumail.org.

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