'Tis the season of goodwill and keeping in touch

As Christmas approaches, the blog posts may be dwindling (only 37k new blogs created in the last 24 hours, normally it's in the 60k per day range), the tweets fewer, and the Facebook posts are increasingly recounting stories of travel horrors or excitement at seeing friends and family (well for most of us).  Most of us are turning our thoughts to those we are spending Christmas with and those whom we aren't but would like to have been able to.

For those of us with friends and family scattered around the world, being together at the same time and  in the same place may not be realistic, but amongst the many communication platforms we have at our disposal, it is tools like Skype which have been game changers in keeping relationships alive, and for encouraging a wide range of people of all ages to venture online and try it.  Phone calls are already fantastic for those that you can't see in person, but video calls are even better.

I regularly see 15m people logged in to the service on a Sunday morning (GMT) when I'm trying to catch up with my brothers in Australia. So it's no surprise to me to read earlier today that Skype now accounts for 8% of international calling minutes globally, but it's a fact I thought I'd share.

A quick call (video or otherwise), or a personal email or text can mean a lot to people you don't see often.
Be a sport. Spare a few moments and get in touch with someone you don't see often.  It's Christmas.