This might be way past some of our readers, but it’s a great place to start this “Facebook for Farmers” blog series – you can’t do much online without an email address. The default criteria for signing up for social media and other online applications is your name and your email address.

Email is much more than just a way to save money on postage – it’s fast, secure, and powerful. You can keep in touch with people, get news from around the world, and save money with offers from companies when you opt-in to their mailing lists. Interested in a quote from a farm equipment store but don’t have time to call? Shoot the store an email, ask what you need to know and they’ll send you the information you need, saved in your online inbox for you to refer back to as often as you’d like – or if you don’t like the quote, hit delete and forget about it!

I’m going to walk you through setting up a Gmail account, which is Google’s email service. Gmail is very simple to use, yet packed with features you can use as you become more accustomed to the email interface. First, click here: Gmail Sign Up. You’ll see a screen that looks like this:

Fill in the information – this is safe, Google doesn’t share your contact information. There’s a section called “Word Verification” that it’ll ask you to fill in – this is called a CAPTCHA, and it’s to prevent spammers (companies that use robots to sign up for illegitimate email accounts in order to contact you after they’ve been blocked by protective software) from signing up using automated software. Just type in the letters as you see them, agree to the terms of service, and you’re set.

To write your first email, click “Compose Mail” on the top left, under the Gmail logo. A box will pop up and you can type in the email address of your recipient, enter a subject (what the message is about) and start typing away! If you want to add a picture, maybe of a building your construction crew just finished to send to the customer, click the paperclip icon under the subject box and find the picture on your computer. You should be able to add 3 or 4 pictures to an email.

Your email will be the way you sign up for and log in to many social networking sites. These sites will also send you information about your accounts, news about their services, and notifications (messages from other members, for instance) to your email address, so you’ll want to check your email at least once a day.

Now that you’re connected via email, you’re ready to dive deeper into the world of social media. Hopefully you already have email addresses of your friends or coworkers to add to your contacts list – practice sending a few emails, let people know you’re online, and get ready for tomorrow’s post about facebook and how to connect even further!

-Al Winmill (need to test out your email? send me one at alec.winmill@titanoutletstore.com)

Titan Outlet Store Inventory – we have a great selection of used ag and construction equipment at great prices.