The digital age is upon us.

Everywhere we turn, there’s a new piece of technology boasting its benefits for mankind or a new social media Web site opening its doors to help connect the world.

The expanse of the World Wide Web and the speed at which technology is developed, redeveloped and ultimately distributed in today’s society is daunting but there is an upside.

That same speed also helps keep the world informed 24 hours a day, seven days a week and your local newspaper is taking full advantage of that opportunity so it can keep all of Newberry County and beyond up to date on what’s happening right here in your hometowns.

There are several ways The Newberry Observer makes its presence online.

First off, our Web site at www.newberryobserver.com is updated every day. And that’s not just stories that appear in our print pages. The Web site is a great way for people to stay current with what’s happening around the county from the feature stories on the people, places and events happening to the breaking news alerts that get everyone up to speed when storms roll through the county or when accidents, fires or other incidents like burglaries, etc. happen in your community. We post breaking news events online before they ever reach our print edition. We also post obituaries of your loved ones and friends online before they hit our print edition. We also post local sports scores with continuous updates online during Friday night football games.

The Web site is fully functional and we encourage people to visit us often and sign up to receive those breaking news alerts and other special messages so you can see what’s happening in Newberry County as we distribute it on a daily basis and whenever news breaks. All you have to do is log on to www.newberryobserver.com and register.

The site also features Hot Deals where you can find special offers from local businesses when they are available, advertisements from local businesses, an events calendar to keep you up to date on what’s happening around Newberry County and our e-Edition — the same exact publication as our print product only in a digital format. You can find local gas prices and other important information on the Web site as well.

Visit us online today and get in on all the action. There’s something there for everyone to enjoy.

The Observer also is part of the 21st century’s explosion of social media with its Facebook page.

There is a link to our Facebook page on the Web site but you also can find us by searching for “The Newberry Observer” via your Facebook account. We use social media here at the newspaper for a variety of different things, including keeping people informed of breaking news and events happening around the county — similar to our Web site.

But Facebook is more than just posting and sharing stories with our fans.

We also encourage you, our readers, to upload photos from events and share them with the community. We want you — John Q. Public — to join us on Facebook and keep your friends and family members up to date on what’s happening around the community. We also ask poll questions on our Facebook page and each morning of publication put a sneak peek of that day’s front page up on our wall so you can see a little of what’s in that day’s newspaper.

Fans of our Facebook page also can begin discussion threads and keep us informed of activities, news and events happening throughout the county any time of the day. Our Facebook page, like the print edition and our Web site, is all about the community and that’s the way we want it.

Both Facebook and our Web site are tools for not only us in the newsroom here at The Observer to keep you informed, they also are avenues for the people and communities we serve to get involved with us. We want you to become fans of our Facebook page and we want you to visit our Web site to stay informed but also to become members of the ever-growing online presence of your local newspaper.

There are even more exciting ways for you to get your news, sports and opinion information coming in the future and we want everyone in Newberry County to be a part of them.

So log on today and find out what The Observer has to offer on the great World Wide Web.