Meet Tekspert Lorne. A technical specialist with Senior Planet-OATS, Lorne is the resident “tekspert” among his friends. Look out for his bi-weekly Tech Tips.

Ever find a funny picture while browsing the Internet that you know will crack your friends up? Or read a thought-provoking article that you can’t wait to discuss with someone?

Most websites today make it easy to share with friends and family on email and social media. These sites have sharing options for Facebook and email built-in, so all you need to do is click a button and enter a name or email address. 

Look for the share buttons at the top or bottom of the web page that you want to share, or sometimes in a sidebar. Often, they’re in a strip, like this:

Sharing by Email

If you or the person you want to  share with is not on Facebook — or if you want to share privately — you can do so via email. The email sharing icon is almost always in the form of an envelope.

Clicking on this icon will open your computer’s email app with the link pre-entered. All you’ll need to do then is to enter an email address and click your Send button, although you also have the option of adding a message. Some websites — for example, the New York Times — pop up an email form instead.

Sharing to Facebook

If you want to share an article or image to Facebook, just look for the classic Facebook icon.

Like the email icon, you can usually find it toward the bottom of the webpage, but it could also appear at the top or on the side. It might be in a block of social media sharing icons, along with Twitter and other social media buttons.

Once you click it, you’ll see a preview of what the post will look like, and you’ll have the option to share either on your timeline, or on a friend’s timeline, or with a specific friend via a private message.

Note that you will need to log into your Facebook account if you are not already logged in.

Having Trouble Finding the Right Icon?

Some sites may have a more generic “Share” icon, which usually looks like an arrow pointing up and to the right.

Clicking on this should pull up a list of familiar sharing options, such as for Facebook and email.

If you don’t see a share button at all on the page, you can go to your browser’s address bar and copy the URL (click here for a how-to on copying and pasting).

Then paste the URL into an email or Facebook status update. It’s a little more work, but still an easy way to share.

Happy sharing!