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The following is part of a "Your Stories" feature on different ways people are using Facebook in India. What's your story? Share it with others at http://stories.facebook.com/.

Saloni Singhal lives a life which many young professional Indians her age lead. Initially, she was reluctant to switch over from Orkut to Facebook.  “It always takes a little time to get used to things”, she says.   

Facebook gained more momentum in her life as more and more of her friends and family began using the site. For Singhal, the fact that her network on Facebook was expanding was the selling point in her switching over to Facebook permanently.

“If I don’t spend at least an hour on Facebook, then the day is not complete,” she said.

Like many Indians, Singhal’s friends and family are spread all over the world. “We don’t feel the distance because we are all so connected now."

She has the ability to see and often times meet nieces and nephews for the first time with Facebook as a platform. Singhal has family who have moved around from the UK to Moscow to Indonesia to the United States. Just recently, a close friend moved from India to Dubai, yet with Facebook applications—the two even “cook” together via the Café World app.

News travels fast on Facebook. Like many others across the world, she was able to hear where her nephew was going to college in the United States through Facebook even before his mother knew where her son had been admitted to college.

Both Singhal’s mother as well as her mother’s sister are active Facebook users. “Now, we are especially careful of all information we post,” she remarks jokingly. All humor aside, Singhal was positive about Facebook spreading to older generations, thoughts that resonate with users all over the world.

Facebook has kept Singhal’s family connected even within India. Though she lives in Delhi, she also has family in Hyderabad.

When a family member was struggling during the recession last year to receive an offer letter confirming a job, the family was able to send him words of encouragement in response to his various status posts, which reflected his sadness and frustration.

“Though we were not there to comfort him, we were able to make him feel like we were there for him,” Singhal said.

Facebook has been a powerful tool in keeping her academic circle close knit as well as her family. Her MBA classmates were able to have a small-scale reunion through Facebook events last year, and now that more and more people are on Facebook, they plan on having a larger scale event this year close to ten years after graduating.

Singhal who has chatted and shared photos with her niece via Facebook hopes to meet her in person for the first time during her visit to India next week.

Mithya Srinivasan, an intern at Facebook, uses her account to keep in touch with her family members in India, Singapore, Scotland, Australia, Dubai, and the United States.