{"id":30933,"date":"2018-05-01T11:01:50","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T15:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=30933"},"modified":"2021-04-19T09:50:22","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T13:50:22","slug":"genealogy-101-using-social-media-for-family-history-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/genealogy-101-using-social-media-for-family-history-research.html","title":{"rendered":"Genealogy 101: Using Social Media for Family History Research"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega writes about various social media websites and tools \u2013 and how to use them to help your family history research. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.<\/span>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

When my maternal grandmother was working on her genealogy starting in the 1960s, she corresponded with people through letter writing. Can you imagine the anticipation of waiting to hear from a researcher or long-lost cousin in another country? Or maybe wondering when the document you ordered would arrive?<\/p>\n

Fast forward to today. If I want to ask a colleague about a document I can do so with the aid of Facebook messaging or email. To order a vital record, I can use a website or maybe even find the item digitized online. If I want to learn more about genealogy I can watch a video tutorial on YouTube or a webinar. Today\u2019s genealogists have something that previous generations didn\u2019t: the Internet and social media.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: a Facebook page on a mobile phone. Credit: Harland Quarrington; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Social Media<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not using social media or not even sure what it is, let\u2019s start with a few definitions. According to Wikipedia<\/a>, social media is:<\/p>\n

\u201ccomputer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks.\u201d<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Simply put, this means that social media websites allow you to create and share content as well as interact with others. Social networking is one form of social media \u2013 but there are social media aspects to many of the websites you use for genealogy.<\/p>\n

How can you use social media to further your genealogical research? Do you use Facebook? Good, let\u2019s talk about some of the ways you can use it for your genealogy:<\/p>\n