A recent survey has underlined how 3,000 expats around the globe are really keeping in touch with one another. Those who took the plunge and moved away from the UK, changing pounds for another currency with services such as TorFX, showed that social media in particular is helping people speak to loved ones.
Research from HSBC Expat discovered that email is still the main way that people keep in touch with friends and family, though there has been an explosion in the number of people using newer forms of communication such as Twitter and Skype to get hold of those that matter to them.
The survey claimed that 52 per cent of people said email was used twice a week to speak to friends and family, though 39 per cent revealed that Facebook was used just as much instead. Another 36 per cent used Skype’s video and voice functionality. However, only a few people stuck to traditional methods of communication; mobile phones were used by 16 per cent and landlines by 14 per cent.
Speaking in The Daily Telegraph, Graham Downie, a property agent in France, explained how social media had also become invaluable for expats who set up their own businesses abroad. He said: “I’m fortunate that my move has coincided with the social media explosion; it has allowed me to work from an office in my garden, with vineyards outside my door, yet position myself among major players in the marketplace and create trust in my brand.”
