Linked at the lake

Courtesy of Becky Mushko

Becky Mushko of Penhook works on her blog peevishpen.blogspot.com.

News flash: Social networking sites, initially embraced by computer users between 10 and 30, have been discovered by another generation of parents and even grandparents. And the older generations have jumped on with enthusiasm and creativity. And the world shrank.

Adults are joining social networking sites -- Facebook and Twitter and Web sites such as blogs and YouTube -- for as many reasons as there are users. Some contribute comments to public blogs, such as those sponsored by talk shows, television programs and news outlets. Others have established their own blogs and invited friends and strangers to join as followers.

Some have joined online support communities for everything from breast cancer survivors to alcoholism to gambling addiction in order to communicate with like-minded individuals. Still other users have set up walls on Facebook and have begun connecting with friends and families worldwide.

Writers and readers were among those who took to blogs early. Lake bloggers, who also are writers, include Becky Mushko of Penhook (www.peevishpen.blogspot.com), Sally Roseveare (www.smithmountainlakemysterywriter.blogspot.com) of Huddleston and more than half a dozen others.

Readers have discovered these blogs and followed various conversation threads, as well as stumbled over blogs devoted to book clubs and book reviews. Common ground has brought people together in small and large e-communities.

Amy Tate of Boones Mill, www.thevirginiascribe.blogspot.com, covered her summer adventures balancing two challenges: raising two young children and completing a writing course. One post posed a question: With all the news of cyber-freaks trolling for victims, Tate asked if she should remove the pictures of her children playing in a wading pool.

Readers weighed in with both advice and bemoans of the difficulty of keeping children safe today. Ultimately, Tate replaced pictures of her children with landscapes.

Tate began blogging nearly two and a half years ago with no real direction in mind. As she became more serious about writing, that changed.

"I'm now part of a writing community that encourages me professionally, and I'm constantly learning about the industry through other agents and publishing blogs," said Tate. "Blogging makes the world smaller. I've 'met' other writers from all over the country in my genre. If it weren't for blogging, our paths would probably never cross."

Tate pointed out another blog site, www.ganavymom.blogspot.com, written by one of her friends, Alicia Slusher. Slusher began her blog to share concerns, fears and joys of having her son Gavin Slusher on active duty in the Navy. She invited mothers of other men and women in Gavin's unit to share their thoughts as well.

Some not-for-profit organizations have started sponsoring blog services.

Marion Higgins of Rocky Mount, author of www.ontheblackwater.blogspot.com, decided to use www.caringbridge.org when her husband, Richard, underwent serious surgery. Available 24/7, Higgins posted daily updates on her husband's condition after sending an e-mail link to her friends to help them find Richard's personal page.

Friends logged into the secure site, wrote in the online guestbook and sent well wishes to Richard. It saved Marion countless hours of trying to send individual or mass e-mails to all their friends.

Both Franklin and Bedford county school districts instituted electronic communication programs for the current school year, according to Donna Meyerhoeffer of Moneta. Every teacher created a Web page where lesson plans, assignments and other necessary information for parents to access from their home computers. (Parents without computers can access student information from library terminals.)

Using a program called Power Teacher, parents go online to view grades, check attendance and homework assignments, and verify bus routes.

"This is one of the best programs to put near real-time information into parents' hands," said Meyerhoeffer, who teaches at Staunton River High School. "It makes parental involvement much more interactive."

Some area schools are developing contingency plans for potential flu outbreaks that might become severe enough to close schools.

"Interactive Internet labs in various schools can be used to teach students in different schools should we face a teacher shortage," added Meyerhoeffer. "Even my husband, Kim, who teaches in the Franklin County School System, has access to these interactive labs."

Parents and grandparents were among late joiners of the Facebook and MySpace phenomena, with parents signing up at first to check up on what their children were posting on such sites. Gradually, grandparents gave in and set up Facebook accounts to communicate with their grandchildren, many of whom live through such sites.

Judy Reap of Moneta resisted Facebook until members of her acting class convinced her it was the way they communicated with each other. Little did Reap foresee what would happen next.

Before long, an old teacher asked to be her friend. (For those not yet on Facebook, friend profiles can be public or private. Public profiles are available to everyone. Private profiles require acceptance from the owner to join.)

Other friends popped up quickly. Then, far-flung family members began contacting Reap. Eldest of 11 siblings with loads of nieces and nephews, Reap's family shared current photos, photos of earlier generations and partial family trees. Facebook became the instrument for planning a family reunion in 2010.

Reap shared a cautionary story, however. When daughter Maura Boone entered the Peace Corps, she discovered her mother's Facebook wall.

She begged her mother, "Please don't friend my friends!"

Reap didn't.