HOW TO | SHARE photos, videos and more with 23snaps
1 Set up your account and family
Go to 23snaps.com and sign up for a new account. You can choose to sign up using Facebook but since it’s not preposterous to assume at least one reason people might go down this route is that they’re a little uncomfortable with Facebook, signing up for a clean 23snaps account is probably preferable. Once you’re signed in, go into your account settings, click My Family in the sidebar on the left, then add your partner if you have one (they will be sent an email prompting them to sign up for an account) and your children’s details – whom you can later tag in updates.
2 Invite more friends and family
Your partner gets special privileges to post to your family timeline just like you can, but your next step will probably be to add the friends and family you want to share your news with. You do this by clicking My Connections in the settings page’s left sidebar, then either entering one email address at a time (with an optional covering note) and sending invitations, or by importing from an address book such as Gmail’s. When the recipient clicks the ‘I want to see the photos!’ button in the invitation, they’ll be prompted to log in or, more likely, sign up for a new account.
3 Share your photos and more
Once you’re logged in, the big Post button at the top-right gives you the option of uploading photos, videos, a status, your baby’s weight or height, or a Story, which combines photos and text. For anything you post, you have the option of setting it to be visible to all your connections or just to you and your partner – even if you’re uploading a group of photos at once, say. Note that you can tag each of your children in each update. Apps available for iOS, Android, Windows and Kindle Fire can make posting easier, and for your friends and family to keep updated.
4 Choose notification frequency
Every person you invite to your family updates can set notification preferences, including getting email updates highlighting everything you post, either immediately or in a daily or weekly digest – ideal for your less tech-savvy relatives who would struggle even with logging into the site or using an app. You might need to set up their account for them initially, after which they’ll receive email updates. Finally, if you want to stop using 23snaps, from the settings page you can request a link that downloads everything you’ve uploaded, and you can close your account there too.