OK. Despite my statements of a week ago, I haven't managed to completely avoid the new Genealogy social network, and I have enjoyed participating in several group and forum discussions.
As of this morning, here are the twenty "most active" groups on Genealogy Wise. I'm not sure how the term "Most Active" is measured.
1. Ireland and Irish Ancestry
2. Ancestry Family Tree users
3. FindAGrave Addicts
4. Germany and German Ancestry
5. Scrap Your Family History
6. Southern California Genealogy Jamboree
7. Scotland and Scottish Ancestry
8. Legacy Family Tree fans
9. Surname Groups Needed
10. Missouri Genealogy
11. Genealogical Proof Standard
12. Ships Passenger Lists to USA
13. DNA and Family Research
14. Internet Research Tips & Treasures
15. American Revolutionary War Ancestors
16. Iowa Genealogy
17. Lost Faces: Ancestor Photos & Albums
18. MacGenealogist
19. Genealogy in St. Louis
20. Genealogy Tips and Links
And as of the moment, here are the 20 "most popular" groups (measured by number of members).
1. Germany and German Ancestry 341 members
2. FindAGrave Addicts 327 members
3. Ireland and Irish Ancestry 302 members
4. Ancestry Family Tree users 297 members
5. Legacy Family Tree fans 261 members
6. Genealogy Tips and Links 255 members
7. Scotland and Scottish Ancestry 211 members
8. American Revolutionary War Ancestors 169 members
9. England Family History 158 members
10. Lost Faces: Ancestor Photos & Albums 156 members
11. Internet Research Tips & Treasures 151 members
12. I am a Geneaholic 148 members
13. Genetic Genealogy 136 members
14. Southern California Genealogical Society and Family Research Library 133 members
15. MacGenealogist 132 members
16. RootsMagic Fans 131 members
17. GeneaBloggers 130 members
18. National Genealogical Society 116 members
19. Missouri Genealogy 116 members
20. The Genealogy Guys Podcast 115 members
I am very impressed that Missouri Genealogy is high on the list in both measurements. I created the group when I realized no one else had yet done so. I've been quite pleased with the participation, and I've learned of several new resources . (This is where I learned about the Springfield/Greene County Library)
Genealogy Wise shows a lot of promise. The administrators of the site have made several mistakes, which may have irrevocably repelled some potential members, in their opening week. Most of it I would ascribe to lack of preparedness. Tamura Jones points out that they announced on July 7th they were hiring 15 people to help launch the site. And for all intents and purposes it was launched later that day through it being blogged about on several Geneablogger websites. So they weren't fully staffed when the initial wave of genealogists joined up.
However, they have responded well, I think, by listening to the complaints, and seeking input from the community. Any social network is a product of its members, and there are a lot of experienced genealogists participating on the website, so it could be a valuable resource to expand one's genealogical knowledge, as well as a potential place to discover kin.
Showing posts with label GenealogyWise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GenealogyWise. Show all posts
Friday, July 17, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
GenealogyWise hiccup
An indication that there are some people in Provo, UT right now scrambling to figure out what happened.
I suspect it will be fixed soon. And then everyone who has become addicted to this new social network can return from whatever productive activity they were replacing it with.
I suspect it will be fixed soon. And then everyone who has become addicted to this new social network can return from whatever productive activity they were replacing it with.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Thoughts on GenealogyWise
Disclaimer-wise: As an aficionado of the English Language, I am predisposed against the new social network website –GenealogyWise – due to their appropriation of the painful-to-the eyes ‘wise’ construction. If there was a way to kill usage of ‘wise’ as a suffix, I would do so. Yes, I am aware there is also a pun on ‘wisdom’ in this case, but this isn’t sufficient to get me to support the corruption of the English language.
The new website was announced on Wednesday, and there was a heavy stampede from geneabloggers – many who had been utilizing Facebook. Several individuals were heard saying that they planned to leave Facebook entirely.
I, for one, am not leaving Facebook. Of course, I was a member of Facebook before the geneablogger stampede towards it, and have many non-genealogist friends with whom I keep in touch using it. My non-genealogist friends won’t be switching to GenealogyWise so there’s no reason for me to leave. If I only networked with other genealogists on Facebook, I could see the temptation to delete my account. But that doesn’t define me.
Those genealogists who do leave Facebook are going to lose a few advantages to my mind.
1) Facebook is a great way to find living cousins – just by searching the directory for your surnames. 99% of these cousins won’t be on GenealogyWise.
2) I have found and left a message on one Facebook group set up for an annual family reunion of not-too-distant cousins. These too can’t really be set up on GenealogyWise since it will be difficult to get family members who aren’t genealogists to join. But a Facebook group could be a great way to keep younger family members interested inbetween reunions.
3) Those genealogists who do research for others may find Facebook is helpful in letting those in your social network know what you are doing as a business. When they decide they want some research done – or someone they know is asking for references – they are more likely to think of you. Your social network isn’t going to follow you to GenealogyWise.
On the other hand, there are a couple things I like about GenealogyWise.
1) I like their option of one rss feed for every blog post on the site. You can subscribe to rss feeds for individual members as well, if you don’t want every post, but the one super-feed is very useful. I find the effect similar to subscribing to tags on Wordpress. Every time someone tags a WordPress.com post with ‘genealogy’ it appears in my blog reader. And every time someone posts a public entry on their GenealogyWise blog, it will now appear in my blog reader.
[Note: by default all profiles and blog posts are readable by anyone on GenealogyWise, meaning they are also likely to get indexed by search engines such as Google. You can go to your settings, and under ‘privacy’ change that to either ‘members only’ or ‘friends only’. However, the posts shouldn’t appear in the rss feed if it is restricted.]
2) Like the Facebook Notes application which allows you to display your outside blog posts on Facebook – or the TwitterFeed application that automatically posts links to your blog posts on Twitter -- GenealogyWise allows you to display your blog posts on your profile page. I know I have friends who read my blog posts on Facebook who otherwise wouldn’t, and I have been told by fellow geneabloggers they are often more likely to read a blog post when they see a link to it on my twitter feed. Similarly, I suspect some may now find my blog posts through my GenealogyWise profile.
Of course, both of these advantages occur from me setting up the profile and respective rss feeds. I don't actually have to ever return to GenealogyWise beyond accepting any friend requests that come in.
There may be some interesting forum and group discussions, but I find I prefer email mailing lists, such as those available on Rootsweb, for these types of discussions. If upon GoogleWave's release, GenealogyWise releases an application that turns these forum discussions into waves accessible through a Wave browser, I anticipate I may well become a participant in some of the forums.
Update: it appears they are now displaying their site name as two words. This change doesn't predate the initial drafts of my post, but does predate the final posting, so unless they're psychic, or have access to my drafts, I can't take credit.
The new website was announced on Wednesday, and there was a heavy stampede from geneabloggers – many who had been utilizing Facebook. Several individuals were heard saying that they planned to leave Facebook entirely.
I, for one, am not leaving Facebook. Of course, I was a member of Facebook before the geneablogger stampede towards it, and have many non-genealogist friends with whom I keep in touch using it. My non-genealogist friends won’t be switching to GenealogyWise so there’s no reason for me to leave. If I only networked with other genealogists on Facebook, I could see the temptation to delete my account. But that doesn’t define me.
Those genealogists who do leave Facebook are going to lose a few advantages to my mind.
1) Facebook is a great way to find living cousins – just by searching the directory for your surnames. 99% of these cousins won’t be on GenealogyWise.
2) I have found and left a message on one Facebook group set up for an annual family reunion of not-too-distant cousins. These too can’t really be set up on GenealogyWise since it will be difficult to get family members who aren’t genealogists to join. But a Facebook group could be a great way to keep younger family members interested inbetween reunions.
3) Those genealogists who do research for others may find Facebook is helpful in letting those in your social network know what you are doing as a business. When they decide they want some research done – or someone they know is asking for references – they are more likely to think of you. Your social network isn’t going to follow you to GenealogyWise.
On the other hand, there are a couple things I like about GenealogyWise.
1) I like their option of one rss feed for every blog post on the site. You can subscribe to rss feeds for individual members as well, if you don’t want every post, but the one super-feed is very useful. I find the effect similar to subscribing to tags on Wordpress. Every time someone tags a WordPress.com post with ‘genealogy’ it appears in my blog reader. And every time someone posts a public entry on their GenealogyWise blog, it will now appear in my blog reader.
[Note: by default all profiles and blog posts are readable by anyone on GenealogyWise, meaning they are also likely to get indexed by search engines such as Google. You can go to your settings, and under ‘privacy’ change that to either ‘members only’ or ‘friends only’. However, the posts shouldn’t appear in the rss feed if it is restricted.]
2) Like the Facebook Notes application which allows you to display your outside blog posts on Facebook – or the TwitterFeed application that automatically posts links to your blog posts on Twitter -- GenealogyWise allows you to display your blog posts on your profile page. I know I have friends who read my blog posts on Facebook who otherwise wouldn’t, and I have been told by fellow geneabloggers they are often more likely to read a blog post when they see a link to it on my twitter feed. Similarly, I suspect some may now find my blog posts through my GenealogyWise profile.
Of course, both of these advantages occur from me setting up the profile and respective rss feeds. I don't actually have to ever return to GenealogyWise beyond accepting any friend requests that come in.
There may be some interesting forum and group discussions, but I find I prefer email mailing lists, such as those available on Rootsweb, for these types of discussions. If upon GoogleWave's release, GenealogyWise releases an application that turns these forum discussions into waves accessible through a Wave browser, I anticipate I may well become a participant in some of the forums.
Update: it appears they are now displaying their site name as two words. This change doesn't predate the initial drafts of my post, but does predate the final posting, so unless they're psychic, or have access to my drafts, I can't take credit.
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