Socializing and living in a community is important for people of all ages. Having strong ties to others reduces the risks of isolation and loneliness, and it can even help you live longer. One study concluded that individuals with lasting ties to friends and family had a 50% greater chance of outliving those that were not as steeped in community.

For older adults, moving into an assisted living community such as The Gardens is a great way to make new friends. Common areas where you can gather for meals, coffee, games or conversation help you foster relationships with others, and our staff does a lot of the work by creating social calendars full of fun activities. You can join in on activities that are your cup of tea and get to know like-minded people.

But in this modern age, seniors aren't limited to the communities physically around them when making friends and building relationships. Careful use of social media and other virtual tools can help you make friends with people near and far without having to step outside your living space first. For some people, lasting and meaningful virtual friendships develop over the years and provide a lot of benefits. For others, those virtual friendships turn into real-life friendships as people meet up or travel together.

If you're interested in opening the doors in your life to virtual community, check out some tips for doing so below.

Start With Social Media

Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are the go-tos for most people looking to build virtual community. Pick a platform you're comfortable with using to start with. If you haven't used social media before, pick one platform that seems right for you and work on mastering it before you throw in others. Taking it slow helps reduce any stress of building virtual community — after all, this should be a fun process, not an anxiety-inducing one.

Once you sign up for and create a profile with your social media platform of choice, consider the type of community you want to join. While you can easily friend and communicate with people you already know, you may want to branch out and meet others interested in the same things you are.

Do you want to find people to chat books with? Use Instagram to find accounts that use the hashtag #bookstagram. Looking for people who quilt so you can exchange patterns and tips and cheer each other on in the progress of projects? Consider searching Facebook for online quilting groups you can join. You can use these types of tactics to find people interested in almost any topic.

Be Bold in Joining In

Participation in social networks of any type, including virtual ones, tends to follow a 90-9-1 rule. That means that 90% of the people mostly lurk. Lurking refers to people who read or observe the social activity at hand but don't participate in it themselves.

Around 9% of people contribute periodically, and around 1% of people dominate the social interactions in the group. If you're seeing 10 people commenting and communicating in an online group, that means there could be around 90 more people who are interested but haven't made themselves publicly known yet.

You don't build relationships by lurking. So, be bold and join the 9% or the 1% who are interacting. Create a post to introduce yourself, add your thoughts to discussions or join in on fun jokes or games people are playing online.

Practice Caution and Strong Safety Measures

While you're being bold in joining in and getting to know others, do be safe. Anytime you're communicating in online forums, you want to safeguard your personal information. And if you choose to meet up with people you've met online, take some effort to ensure safety as you get to know new friends in person too.

Here are some good rules to follow:

• Don't share sensitive personal details. No matter how good of virtual friends you become with people, they don't need your Social Security number or any information about your finances or financial accounts. It's weird to ask, and if someone does, that's a red flag.
• Be wary about sharing your exact location. Letting people know you live in Missouri or even that you reside in Springfield may be okay once you get to know them. But until you have a very long, comprehensive virtual friendship with someone, avoid sharing your exact address.
• Use video calling to get to know people. Video call and chat options like Google Meet, Zoom and even Marco Polo let you see the person when you're talking. This helps you confirm they are who they say they are and use body language cues for better communication.
• Always meet in public in a safe location. If you decide to meet anyone in real life, start with safe public spaces. Have your own transportation to and from the meeting place. Coffee shops and restaurants are ideal locations for first meetups, but you can also use popular parks or libraries where you know a lot of people will be. Consider bringing a friend or family member along the first time you meet someone new just in case.

Virtual communities are a great way to find people who are interested in the same things you are and make all kinds of new friends. Consider starting today if you don't already make new friends online.