The opportunity to capture your adorable kidlet chowing down on their first piece of pumpkin pie or tearing into the wrapping paper on their first Christmas present only comes along once. If you’re fast enough to capture that shot on your phone or camera, how do you share that iconic holiday moment with all your friends and family? Don't worry; you don't have to cart the photo album to Florida for the holidays. In fact, there are so many ways to share that grandma and grandpa need never miss another moment from junior’s milestones, regardless of their computer expertise.
Keeping It Simple
The most basic way to share pictures or videos stored on your computer is by emailing them. While social networking sites or photo sharing sites can be an easy way to share with everyone all at once, they can be limited if Auntie May doesn’t have a Facebook profile or isn’t savvy enough to follow the album links to "Junior's Thanksgiving 2011". However, even beginners usually have an email account. Typically the process is going to entail starting to compose a new message to all your desired recipients. Choose the “attach file” or “insert attachment” option. When the window opens with the list of your files, find the photo you want to send wherever you saved it on your computer (often in the “My Photos” or “Pictures” folder) and click open or attach. Just remember that digital pictures can be large files, so you may only be able to email three or four before you run out of room.
Social Media Sites
That said, now that Facebook has billions of members, grandma probably does have a profile, and she may even have more “friends” than you do. Social media sites like Facebook, Google+ and Twitter can make sharing a great photo or video with all your friends and family at once incredibly quick and easy, and help them feel like they're part of your holiday, even from across the country or around the world.
From your computer, navigate to your profile page and click the “Photos” option on the left menu (under your profile picture). Once you’re in the photo section, look for the buttons that say “upload photo” or “upload video.” A window will open, just like when emailing a photo as an attachment, which will allow you to find the photo or video wherever you have it saved on your computer. Note that pressing and holding the Ctrl button while selecting files will allow you to upload multiple photos at once.
Hold the Phone
If you’re taking more photos with your phone than your camera these days, you’re not alone. Facebook, Twitter and Google+ all allow you to text photos directly from your phone, even if it doesn’t connect to the internet. Smartphone users can use one of many applications to post photos or videos to your “wall” or account right from your phone with a few quick clicks. If you'd rather only share the photo or video with Mom, you're able to send it directly to someone within Facebook, or custom-fit your privacy settings before you click "send" (to only share with specific people).
You Tube
YouTube is a great, easy resource to share videos. The account creation process very fast, requiring only that you have an active email account and birth date. From the YouTube homepage, click "Upload" in the upper right-hand corner. Choose the file on your computer, as you would attach a file to an email. You can link your YouTube account to Facebook, Twitter or MySpace to maximize your sharing capabilities. Just keep in mind that the default posting option is to make a video public (viewable by anyone), so you may want to consider reviewing the privacy options to limit accessibility of the file to only those people you invite to view it. Unless you really want everyone to see that video of you yodeling through a medley of Christmas carols with your kids...
Snapfish
There are also some great sites dedicated to compiling and sharing all your photos in one place. We like Snapfish for the easy upload options, the fact that it creates an offsite backup of your photos, and allows you or your friends and family to create customized albums and gifts with favorite photos, all from one site. You can even link your Snapfish account to Facebook, so you’ll never again hear, “when are you going to send me pictures of Junior in that holiday sweater I knitted for him?”
If you’re still struggling to share your favorite holiday shots or videos, drop us a note on Facebook or email us at nerdchick@callnerds.com
