Genealogy Lesson 10 - Social Networking on Facebook, MySpace & Twitter

By now you should be pretty well versed in using the Internet.  It can be a powerful tool for finding information about your ancestors.  You have to be careful what you take for fact as anyone can write anything online.  Use common sense and try to find primary sources for any "facts" you find stated on the web.

 

One of the great internet advances of the past few years has been social networking.  Sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter allow you to easily communicate with family and friends.  I can keep up with what my distant cousins are doing and it takes little effort on either of our parts.  These services are free and can do wonders for your research network.

 

Of the three, Facebook is the most dominant right now.  MySpace was really big a few years ago but it seems too commercial for me - full of ads.  Twitter is something totally different so I will address that last.

 

The basic premise of Facebook and MySpace is the same.  You create a homepage about yourself by writing a small bio and can even add a few pictures.  After setting up your page, you then go about finding other people that you know and become their "friend."  You can thereafter see when they update items on their page and they can also see your updates.  This notification system allows you to keep up with lots of people in an automated fashion.

 

Twitter is very basic.  You set up a homepage and all it requires is that you answer one question..."What are you doing right now?"  You can only type 140 characters per message and what you write is broadcast to all of your followers (sorta like your Facebook friends).  Facebook and MySpace have a similar feature but they are called "status updates."  Twitter messages are called "Tweets."

 

Now how does this related to genealogy?  Set up a page and invite all of your genealogy contacts to be friends.  It is great way to keep in touch and to share new discoveries.  You can offer as little or as much information about yourself as you like.  Some people feel the need to tell the world that they just brushed their teeth.  (I am serious...people tell you things like that).

 

Go ahead and try them out and it will not cost you anything as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are free.  They make money from sponsors so you do not have to pay anything.  Your genealogy network will start to grow before you know it.

Genealogy Wise - new genealogy social networking site

There is a new site on the Internet called Genealogy Wise. It is supposed to be like Facebook or MySpace but geared toward genealogists. I joined yesterday but have not done a lot with it yet. From what I have seen, I am pretty impressed. There are a lot of add-on applications that are present and working. I used one to add my Twitter updates to my page...and it worked perfectly the first try!

It is hard to say if the site is just a passing trend or something that will be around for awhile. Hundreds of people have joined but we will have to see how many stay active. If you want to try it out, you can check out my page here: Kevin's Genealogy Wise Page. I have not done much to spruce it up but you can become my friend on there if you like. I am not sure but I think World Vital Records might have something to do with the project.

Footnote Pages Press Release

This is a follow-up to a posting I did yesterday, Footnote Pages. This is the actual press release from Footnote.com that will explain all of the specifics that perhaps I did not.

"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Footnote.com Takes Social
Networking into the Past

Footnote.com launches
Footnote Pages at TechCrunch50

San Francisco -- September 10, 2008 Losing a loved one can result in a range of emotions, from the grief and sorrow to comfort, which often comes from reminiscing stories and memories with family and friends. The challenge arises when there is no single place where all of these stories can easily come together to be shared, enriched and preserved.

Now at Footnote.com, anyone can find or create Footnote Pages where users connect and share stories, photos, and information about the people important to them.

To kick-off the new Footnote Pages, Footnote.com today released over 80 million of these pages created from data from the Social Security Death Index. Most visitors will find existing pages about several deceased friends and family members already on the site.

Footnote.com was selected from over 1,000 applicants to launch Footnote Pages at this year’s TechCrunch50 held in San Francisco. Russ Wilding, CEO of Footnote, demonstrated Footnote Pages to an audience of over 1,500 investors, bloggers, and major media outlets.

“We encourage people to upload their personal shoeboxes of photos and documents to Footnote.com,” explains Wilding. “Now with Footnote Pages, friends and family can come together to share stories and memories about the people they care about.”

Described as Facebook for the Deceased, [emphasis added] these pages feature a photo gallery, an interactive timeline and map, and other tools that bring people together to create a more colorful and rich picture of the past. “Social networking is not only for the younger generations any more,” explains Wilding. “We are seeing Baby Boomers contribute and connect online in increasing numbers. Footnote Pages are an easy way for this audience to interact with each other and learn things they would not otherwise know about deceased friends and family.”

Beyond profiling people, Footnote pages can also be used to document and discuss historical events or places including: the Vietnam War, the Assassination of JFK and the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

-more-

Unlike other social networking sites, Footnote.com provides content that enables users to tell and share stories from the past. Through its partnership with the National Archives, Footnote.com has digitized over 43 million documents including historical newspapers, military records, photos and more.

Footnote.com adds about 2 million new records to the site every month.

Visit Footnote.com to learn more about Footnote Pages and get a new perspective on the lives of your own friends and family who have passed away.

About Footnote.com
Footnote.com is a history website where real history might just surprise you. Footnote.com features millions of searchable original documents, providing users with an unaltered view of the events, places and people that shaped the American nation and the world. At Footnote.com, all are invited to come share, discuss, and collaborate on their discoveries with friends, family, and colleagues. For more information, visit www.footnote.com.

About TechCrunch50
Founded in 2007 by leading technology blog TechCrunch and entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, the TechCrunch50 conference provides a platform for early-stage, and frequently unfunded, companies to launch for the first time to the technology industry’s most influential venture capitalists, corporations, angel investors, fellow entrepreneurs, and the international media. Companies are selected to participate exclusively on merit. TechCrunch50 is supported by corporate sponsors Google, Microsoft, MySpace, and Yahoo!, as well as venture capital firms including Sequoia Capital http://www.sequoiacap.com, Mayfield Fund http://www.mayfield.com, Clearstone Venture Partners http://www.clearstone.com, Charles River Ventures http://www.crv.com, Founders Fund and Fenwick & West http://www.fenwick.com."

Footnote Pages

Footnote.com, a rival to Ancestry of sorts, has launched a new feature - Footnote Pages. I have not played with it too much but it seems interesting. They basically took the Social Security Death Index and made individual pages for every person contained within that index. Each page contains some basic information on the person, whatever was included in the SSDI, plus a historical time line and map. It also allows contributors to add photos, stories, facts and links. Think of this as a MySpace for dead people.

It is a pretty neat idea in general, giving a social aspect to genealogy. You can leave notes on their page telling others to contact you for more info. It is a way to both share what you know about a deceased person plus meet others interested in that individual. I would not expect a lot of connections to be found as these people have not been dead very long. You probably know their descendants to begin with. If Footnote Pages took all of the names from like the 1850 census instead, maybe it would help make more connections, some older sources of names.

I am pretty sure you have to be a member of Footnote to use all of the features. I am a member so I was able to play around with it a little bit. I added a few things to the page for my grandmother, Pearl Malissa Lawson Lett. It took me about one minute to add a photo and a link to a blog post I did on her family. The program flows very smoothly.

Overall, I think this is a neat idea but I doubt it will catch on with established researchers. They are less interested with modern history and this pertains to life, pretty much after 1950. Some of the people in the SSDI were born in the late 1800s but not a large population. I think people might find updating a few pages fun but will get bored with it in short order. If Footnote Pages could import data from your GEDCOM, that might make it more interesting and allow for importing more data.

Younger people just getting interested in genealogy will like this, especially to start the ball rolling. It is a social format that they can relate to and it will probably spike their interest. In all honesty, it would probably serve Footnote better to give this part of their site away for free. They can sell ads to help bring in revenue. Younger people are probably not going to subscribe to such a service when things like MySpace and Facebook are free. This advertising model brings in millions of dollars for them.

If any of you are members of Footnote, try out the Pages section and let me know what you think. If not, you should be able to get a free trial by clicking on one of the links in this posting. I think it is only for like three days but that is long enough to try it out. If you have a membership or get a trial, you can check out the page for my grandmother, the one I was playing with. Just click here...

Privacy Laws, Public Records & Identity Protection

Privacy laws limit the amount of information you can find on a given individual, especially those who are living. Most states censor birth, marriage, death and divorce records for at least fifty to one hundred years. It is important to protect your information and keep you identity as private as possible. In the age of credit card fraud and cybercrime, you can never be too careful.

Social Security numbers and mother’s maiden names are the most covenanted information for criminals so few local governments or credit card companies use them anymore. People are typically assigned a driver’s license number, instead of using their Social Security on that critical piece of identification. They also advise us not to carry your Social Security card on your person. If you wallet or purse is stolen, little damage can be done with your driver’s license number alone.

As strange as it sounds, genealogist and family history buffs need to be careful how they share research. Giving out your date of birth and you mother’s maiden name to a fellow researcher may seem harmless but it can come back to haunt you. In the wrong hands, someone could possibly use that information to access private accounts, such as credit cards or store charge accounts. With this in mind, also be careful what you list in a loved one’s obituary by limiting the use of maiden names and specific dates.

We need to be especially careful with the information of our children. If a criminal were to get hold of a toddler’s vital information, they could do irreparable damage to that child’s credit. If a baby’s Social Security number were stole at birth, a criminal would have upwards of twenty years to destroy that child’s credit – without notice. Until the child was old enough to apply for credit, no one would realize what damage had been done.

Social networks like My Space and Facebook are great. They are places to reconnect with old friends and make new ones. Just remember that whatever you put on the Internet stays on the Internet. Giving out too much personal information can be more harmful than your parents seeing you risque pictures from Spring Break in your online photo album. Avoid posting your full name, address, phone number, current school and similar information. The last thing you want is some weird-o showing up after your chemistry class who knows everything about you. Have fun online but be careful.