Facebook and Genealogy
Social networking and genealogy
I have spent the last couple of weeks exploring Facebook to determine its value as a tool for genealogy research. I began with building a page for the Familytomb website. The trouble with the create a page for a website option is you are limited in your interactions with the rest of the Facebook community. The only type of interaction is for a member to become a fan of the Familytomb website page. As a website I can not friend other researchers, join groups or add applications.
Next, I developed a personal site for me, but used the name Familytomb (first name) Genealogy (last name) as my account. This type of account allowed me to friend, join groups and use the additional applications. The first application I tried was Family Tree. At first I was very excited about being able to upload a Gedcom file and share via a tab on my page. After the successful upload of the Gedcom, I change all the settings to public so everyone could view my tree. My husband went to his Facebook account to see the uploaded Gedcom; he could not see the uploaded information, just “my tree”. In order to view the Gedcom file you have to go to view other trees, look for Familytomb and then view. Most casual visitors are not going to try and figure this out. The only option was to add all the info to “my tree” by hand! With fifteen years of data that is just not going to happen! After spending the better part of a day just trying to work this out, I gave up. Next, I tried another application called Familylink.com. Familylink takes you to their site, once you have an account you have a reciprocal back link to Facebook but a dedicated tab does not show on your Facebook page.
After two weeks of exploring these options I have kept the Familytomb fan page and deactivated the more traditional personal page. Now some of you may be wondering why I do not just create a personal page with my real name. I have many reasons to not have a public page on Facebook, the main one is due to my occupation. As a teacher I do not want to be in a position to deny friend request from my students, nor do I want to have students as friends. I know many educators have pages and I am not passing judgment on those who do, it is just not for me. My only goal in joining Facebook was to increase the visibility of the Familytomb website and the number potential “cousins” who find this website.
In conclusion, for the amount of time and effort it requires I found Facebook for genealogy purposes to be generally ineffective. I have my hands full keeping up with the blog, database and research. Find-A-Grave, Ancestry message boards and the US GenWeb county pages have proven to be a better way to promote the Familytomb site and connect with other researchers. If you want to connect with friends, classmates and long lost boyfriends Facebook is great, but for genealogy purposes I would not recommend it as a useful tool. I would welcome any feedback on your success with Facebook as a genealogist, there is always a chance I was doing it wrong!
Social networking and genealogy
I have spent the last couple of weeks exploring Facebook to determine its value as a tool for genealogy research. I began with building a page for the Familytomb website. The trouble with the create a page for a website option is you are limited in your interactions with the rest of the Facebook community. The only type of interaction is for a member to become a fan of the Familytomb website page. As a website I can not friend other researchers, join groups or add applications.
Next, I developed a personal site for me, but used the name Familytomb (first name) Genealogy (last name) as my account. This type of account allowed me to friend, join groups and use the additional applications. The first application I tried was Family Tree. At first I was very excited about being able to upload a Gedcom file and share via a tab on my page. After the successful upload of the Gedcom, I change all the settings to public so everyone could view my tree. My husband went to his Facebook account to see the uploaded Gedcom; he could not see the uploaded information, just “my tree”. In order to view the Gedcom file you have to go to view other trees, look for Familytomb and then view. Most casual visitors are not going to try and figure this out. The only option was to add all the info to “my tree” by hand! With fifteen years of data that is just not going to happen! After spending the better part of a day just trying to work this out, I gave up. Next, I tried another application called Familylink.com. Familylink takes you to their site, once you have an account you have a reciprocal back link to Facebook but a dedicated tab does not show on your Facebook page.
After two weeks of exploring these options I have kept the Familytomb fan page and deactivated the more traditional personal page. Now some of you may be wondering why I do not just create a personal page with my real name. I have many reasons to not have a public page on Facebook, the main one is due to my occupation. As a teacher I do not want to be in a position to deny friend request from my students, nor do I want to have students as friends. I know many educators have pages and I am not passing judgment on those who do, it is just not for me. My only goal in joining Facebook was to increase the visibility of the Familytomb website and the number potential “cousins” who find this website.
In conclusion, for the amount of time and effort it requires I found Facebook for genealogy purposes to be generally ineffective. I have my hands full keeping up with the blog, database and research. Find-A-Grave, Ancestry message boards and the US GenWeb county pages have proven to be a better way to promote the Familytomb site and connect with other researchers. If you want to connect with friends, classmates and long lost boyfriends Facebook is great, but for genealogy purposes I would not recommend it as a useful tool. I would welcome any feedback on your success with Facebook as a genealogist, there is always a chance I was doing it wrong!
