Ask HN: How do you socialise with your extended family online?

[om154]

Currently my extended family (~25 people) have a shared WhatsApp group in which we share milestones or any things deemed worthy. I am hoping to find a better way of keeping up to date, as the chat is very quiet. I hesitate to start posting regularly as I know others don't and it may dominate the conversation.

Clearly 25 is too many to have on video or phone call, as well as to speak individually on a regular basis. How does everyone keep up?

[themodelplumber]

First, just to offer that it's pretty lucky to have even this much family connection going on, that's really great.

Second I think that multiple-model is pretty awesome. Groups can organically figure out what works best in different contexts. WhatsApp here, a conference call there, some long planning emails over here.

Finally I'd mention that 25 might be a very flexible call limit depending on the framework. You can do pretty huge calls if you plan out and communicate the needed structure in advance. For example, moderated participation, planning to do sharing in rounds, taking time to monitor chats, etc. It can really help people to plan their participation in a way that's comfortable and sustainable.

Just some thoughts coming from a pretty big couple of extended families, good luck.

[mikewarot]

>Currently my extended family (~25 people) have a shared WhatsApp group in which we share milestones or any things deemed worthy. I am hoping to find a better way of keeping up to date, as the chat is very quiet. I hesitate to start posting regularly as I know others don't and it may dominate the conversation.

That sounds amazing... you'll hear about the important stuff, without a lot of noise. I applaud your decision to respect the signal/noise ratio of that channel.

I have extended family on Facebook, it's pretty nice to see what everyone is up to. I used the web interface, and see everything in order, so I know when people are up and see all the stuff they thought was cool... my S/N ratio is much lower, but still acceptable (I just laugh and click like, or scroll on by).

[throwawayvibes]

Meet in person. Have a Facebook group for family stuff. Make rules for no politics and such from the get go. Make people understand that you are the admin and will remove them if they do t behave. I guess that covers it.