7 Ways to Build a Family Tree Using Social Media
•
2 likes•1,397 views
The Internet, much like the world of genealogy, has come a long way in 20 years. While many of us still enjoy the smell of old books and digging through a stack of documents found in our grandmother’s attic, we can all benefit from embracing the social web and using these tools to move your genealogy research forward. What started with message boards, chat rooms and wikis has been expanded to include blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube, to name some of the platforms where you can make connections. The key is finding the right platform and understanding a few tricks of the trade to find those cousins, photos and stories.
Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (18)
Similar to 7 Ways to Build a Family Tree Using Social Media
Similar to 7 Ways to Build a Family Tree Using Social Media (20)
More from Kristie Wells
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
7 Ways to Build a Family Tree Using Social Media
- 1. 7 Ways To Build a Family Tree Using Social Media Kristie Wells - @kristiewells Head of Global Social Media, Ancestry.com
- 2. 2 What is social media? @KristieWells Ancestry.com
- 3. 3 Via Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends report: http://ancstry.me/1Fv8WP3 @KristieWells Ancestry.com
- 4. Agenda I. Blogging II. Facebook III. Instagram IV. Pinterest V. YouTube/Podcasts VI. Twitter VII.Flipboard 4
- 5. 5 @KristieWells Ancestry.com #1: Blogging: Also Known As “Cousin Baiting”
- 6. 6 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks @KristieWells Ancestry.com
- 7. Mistakes, Happen 7 Turns out, I am NOT related to Baron Robert de Vaux or Charlamagne. @KristieWells Ancestry.com
- 8. • Wordpress - https://wordpress.com/ • Medium - https://medium.com/ • Tumblr - https://www.tumblr.com/ • Blogger - https://www.blogger.com 8 Blogging Platforms @KristieWells Ancestry.com
- 9. If Content is King, then your Blog is your Castle. 9 @KristieWells Ancestry.com
- 10. 10 #2: Connect With Cousins on Facebook @KristieWells Ancestry.com
- 11. Join Facebook Groups Katherine R. Willson’s (@moonswings) great resource: http://ancstry.me/1Fv775T 11@KristieWells Ancestry.com
- 12. 12
- 13. 13 #3: Share Photos on Instagram @KristieWells Ancestry.com
- 14. 14
- 16. 16 #4: Build a Family History Board on Pinterest
- 17. • Scan photos from your personal albums and put them online. • Create a board of the cities and towns where your ancestors lived. • Add grave photos with birth and death dates, include cemetery information. • Pin your blog posts and videos to help people find them. • Create Memorial Boards and share a collection of favorite things for your loved one as a way to build their family history. 17 Pinterest Board Ideas @KristieWells Ancestry.com
- 18. 18 Tweet about your surnames (hashtag them e.g. #Wells #Heuer) #5: Tweet Surnames, Locations, etc. @KristieWells Ancestry.com
- 19. 19 #6: Share Family Histories on YouTube & Podcasts
- 20. Questions To Ask Your Family 150 questions at ancstry.me/1H2lvqH compliments of @DeseretNews 20@KristieWells Ancestry.com
- 21. Google Hangouts • Great for relatives not located close to you • More casual than a ‘camera in your face’ • Can shoot in a private or public mode • Record and publish to YouTube • Consider for those who cannot attend family reunions so they can still participate • “Just takes a webcam and the will to talk” • https://plus.google.com/hangouts 21@KristieWells Ancestry.com
- 22. Podcasting • Audio recordings that can be downloaded to a computer or portable media player • Post on your blog • Set up RSS so your listeners can subscribe and automatically download new episodes • Publish to media platforms like iTunes, go to https://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/specs.html for details 22@KristieWells Ancestry.com
- 23. 23 #7: Create Family History Magazine on Flipboard @KristieWells Ancestry.com
- 24. 24 Lisa Louise Cooke - https://flipboard.com/@gengems @KristieWells Ancestry.com
- 25. 25 Randy Seaver- https://flipboard.com/@geneaholic @KristieWells Ancestry.com
- 26. • Link to your blog posts and videos to help people find them. • Add grave photos from your Find a Grave account • Feature cities and towns where your ancestors lived • Create a magazine of your favorite resources or tips 26 Flipboard Magazine Ideas @KristieWells Ancestry.com
- 27. 27 Tweet about your surnames (hashtag them e.g. #Wells #Heuer)@KristieWells Ancestry.com Share your stories online, find some cousins and hopefully break down those walls!
- 28. Thank you Find me online: • Twitter: @KristieWells • Instagram: @KristieWells • Website: kristiewells.com 28
- 29. 29 If the stars are aligned, there will be answers too.
Editor's Notes
- Social media refers to tools that allow you to create, share or exchange information, ideas, pictures and videos on the internet – think Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, blogs, etc.
- There are a lot of people online, which means great opportunities to connect with potential cousins…
- Set up an online ‘journal’ where you share information about your ancestors – what you know, what you are still looking for, link to your online tree for more information.
- Write a story with everything you know about one specific ancestor every week for a year. For examples, check out Amy Johnson Crow’s blog at http://www.nostorytoosmall.com/
- Someone found a story I had written about the de Vaux family and provided additional information that then proved I was not really related to them. Great opportunity for collaboration.
- 5000k groups listed by country (and state for US) as well as by surname and ethnicities
- This photo was shared in a Message Board post, then Emailed to Family Members who shared on Google+ and was picked up by someone searching for my great great uncle. We are now connected and sharing stories, photos and helping each other in our research.
- Posted these letters to Instagram as they were from a family I did not recognize. Friends and family started trying to help solve the puzzle. Still unsolved, but all it takes is someone to do a search and find these online …
- The SaveFamilyPhotos does a great job of telling a story around each picture to stir conversations.
- Hashtags are keywords and using them on specific platforms (like Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Flickr, etc) will allow you to tag your content to make it easier for people to find.
- Think of it as an online photo album.
- Twitter is a short form texting platform (less than 140 characters). Takes some time to get used to it, but great once you master the use of hashtags/keywords to connect with others interested in the same field/person.
- Interview your family members on video and share that to YouTube.
- Online video good for one:one or a group of people. All you need is a webcam.
- Don’t want to be on video, try an audio format.
- Flipboard is an online magazine where you can share articles (like your blog posts), photos and more. Visual platform that supports storytelling.
- Good example of a Flipboard account – uses it to promote her blog posts, things that interest her and her own family history stories.
- Another good example of a Flipboard account – uses it to promote his blog posts, things that interest her and her own family history stories (e.g. “Betty’s Life”).