Social networking websites, like Facebook, are an excellent resource for a genealogist. People often find long, lost, living relatives just by doing a quick search on Facebook. It is a great way to keep up with what your relatives are up to. Other people discover that their relatives like to argue through social media. Do you accept friend requests from your relatives?
If you are like me, then the reason you started using Facebook in the first place is because one of your relatives was on it, and asked you to join. I quickly learned that Facebook was a great way to stay in touch with my living relatives. Suddenly, it became really easy to send messages with my sister, who doesn’t seem to use email very often, but who does, on occasion, answer Facebook messages. I’ve used the chat function to have a few conversations with one of my brothers. I’ve seen family photos from events that I lived too far away to attend. I started playing those addictive Facebook games with my Uncle, and he also started to send me the occasional Facebook message.
My Aunt found me on Facebook. I, of course, accepted her friend request. She was able to connect me to a ton of other family members who are on Facebook, too. I have a huge family, and it was nice to have her help me keep in touch with different family members. Through my Aunt, I discovered relatives that I had never met, whom I wasn’t even aware of the existence of. Then, my Uncle started connecting me to relatives on that side of the family, and showing me old family photos of my ancestors.
Overall, I’d have to say that I am happy to have accepted friend requests from my relatives. Except for a few minor disagreements over political views, I’d have to describe my connections with my relatives through Facebook to be very positive. However, I realize that this is not the experience that everyone has. There are a lot of people who intentionally do not accept friend requests from their relatives.
I’ve heard stories from several good friends of mine about how they accepted a friend request from one of their relatives, and ended up arguing with that relative so much that the two of them stopped speaking to each other. People tend to post very personal things as their Facebook status, and some will even post somewhat questionable photos of themselves. Accepting a friend request from your relatives could mean that you accidentally find out more about them, and their lives, than you would care to. There are people who choose to have “domestic disputes” across each other’s Facebook pages. It can be really uncomfortable to log into Facebook, and see these kinds of comments.
Do you accept the friend requests that come from your relatives? Or, do you decline them? Facebook has a wealth of resources for genealogists, but, at the same time, it can bring you further into the lives of your dysfunctional family members than you really want to be.
Image by opensourceway on Flickr