Graduating from high school is a huge milestone, and the next phase is going to shape the entire direction your life takes. It’s natural that the big shifts mean you steadily lost touch with your old high school friends, especially if you weren’t ride-or-die levels of close. The good news is that there are so many ways you can use social media to stay in touch and connected to those old friends, even if you don’t ever decide to directly chat to them again. Don’t let time or distance mean you lose contact. With this guide, you’ll be able to stay in touch and have the option to reconnect whenever you want to:
- Use the Top Social Apps
The easiest way to stay in touch with old high school friends is, of course, to use the big social channels of Instagram, Facebook, and even TikTok. With more people wanting to spend less time scrolling, however, it’s time to look for more unique ways to stay connected with your old high school friends.
- Use a Yearbook App
A great way to stay updated on old classmates, particularly those you talked to in school but never hung out with outside of it, is via your yearbook. Sites like Classmates.com make it easy to find your yearbook, connect with old classmates, start discussions, and even add updates so you can easily stay in touch with old classmates.
You could even combine platforms. Take photos from the yearbook site and post them online to stir up those old memories and get talking to your old friends again.
- Create a Senior Year Discord
Discord is a great option for managing hundreds, if not thousands, of members at once. After all, a single Discord server can handle upwards of 500,000 members. To really make sure that your entire class is present, however, you will need to create a Discord server during your senior year. Get your school involved so that they can moderate the server and even post prompts or updates. Your school could use an official bot API to set up regular posts, like a “Five Years Ago” post, for example, of your year’s photo album contributions. It can also be a great way to stay informed, to offer opportunities, and more.
Think of the Discord server like a university’s alumni board. It’s where you can stay in touch and engage with those friends and acquaintances from high school.
- Create a Group
An alternative to a Discord server is to create a dedicated group for everyone in your senior year. This can be on Facebook, WhatsApp, or even on LinkedIn. Just make sure you have a clear goal for the group. WhatsApp is the most conversational option, making it ideal for staying in touch, sharing jokes, or even making plans. Facebook is better for organizing events and sharing memories, while LinkedIn is a good alternative for networking and staying in touch professionally.
- Migrate to a Smaller Social Channel
Many of us want a social media platform that’s all about our connections, and not about brands (and certainly not advertising). The good news is that there are smaller social channels out there. Using these smaller social channels will make it easier to stay in touch with those high school friends, without the noise or having their posts being buried under sponsored ads.
