This is a sponsored post, but all opinions are my own.
Living in a different state from friends and family has its ups and downs. For the most part, it's a great time. You get to live in a new city and make new friends and a lot of times, have more opportunities than you would have back home. Like all things though, living out of state and fulfilling your new adventure has its downside too. It's not as easy to make frequent trips home to partake in those last minute family gatherings, or your grandma's birthday celebration that happens to fall right after you return from Christmas vacation, or that impromptu family crawfish boil. It's those times when I miss home the most and feel disconnected from the life I've known for the past 23 years. I've been living away from my closest friends and family for over two years now, as far as 1,400 miles to be exact, and I know how important it is to stay in touch.
It's easier to get disconnected than it is to stay connected. Luckily with the presence of today's social media though, it's much easier to stay in the loop. I'm one known to get homesick when I haven't had a trip home in over eight weeks. Things just start feeling off for me. Prior to my big move to attend grad school, I would visit home nearly every weekend, and at most, would go two weeks without a trip home. Taking close proximity for granted was an understatement. When I moved, I knew adjustments would have to be made to keep me connected. Social media became my best friend, if it wasn't already. It allowed me to share with my family what was going on in my everyday life; it's even part of the reason I started this blog. I post and share on social media regularly, but not
everything needs to be shared with
everybody.
That's when I turn to
BAND app to stay connected. BAND app allows me to share what I want, with the people I want. It's a way to stay organized while keeping everyone in the loop.
With BAND, you create "bands" that consist of anyone you choose. You can create one just for family, just for a select group of friends, blog friends, sorority friends, work friends, etc. I mainly use mine for family and a small group of friends, but the ways are endless. Within your bands, you can share photos, files, calendars, and even group chat. I like to take advantage of the photo album feature. The app allows me to share photos with my friends and family that I would never consider posting to Facebook or Instagram to share with the world. It's private and that's why I like it. My dad likes to stay old school when it comes to social media and refuses to create a Facebook profile, so it always takes an extra step to share with family on social networks while including him. He'll use BAND since it can stay private, and now it's much easier for me to share everything in one place.
For example, I wanted to share this past weekend with my family. I posted one photo across my other social media outlets, but we all know how people feel with back to back posts within the same day, so I used BAND. My family got to see everything I was up to and enjoy it as if they were along with me. Best of all? I got to post all the photos!
If you want to share with only the people that matter most, BAND app is for you! You can download it
here. It's available for iPhone and Android users.
How do you stay connected when you're away from friends and family?
Labels: apps, band app, how to, sponsored, sponsored post