Facebook® & Twitter® For Seniors For Dummies®

Chapter 3. All About E-Mail

Get ready to ...

• Check Out Places to Get Your E-Mail Service

• Meet the Big Three Web-Based E-Mail Providers

• Pick a Pick-Proof Password

• Sign Up for a Gmail Account

• Add Your Contacts

• Compose and Send an E-mail

I know, I know, you've got sending and receiving e-mail down. But did you know there's a bit more to it? You can not only use e-mail to send messages, but you can also subscribe to news lists and feeds on the Internet. And in fact, Facebook and Twitter use your e-mail account to send you notifications of activity on your (and your friends') pages, private messages, and more. You'll be surprised when your e-mail becomes your pipeline to the news your friends post on the sites. Let's get into the full picture now!

Know that your e-mail address consists of two parts. The part before the @ sign is the local part (so the server knows who to send the e-mail to). After the @ sign is the domain address — which tells the domain name system which mail transfer agent accepts mail for that domain.

Every Web site has a URL (its address online), and every e-mail address has a domain component. When requests for Web pages or e-mails are launched into the ethers of the Web, the routing system needs to know where they should be sent. So if you're using the e-mail address your Internet service provider (ISP) assigned you, the e-mail is sent to your user ID (your name) @ your ISP domain — literally your address on the Web.

Then the mail transfer agent (MTA, a type of software) ...