Most people are aware that facebook can be used to connect with old friends, and long lost family members. Did you know that you can find genealogy resources on facebook? It takes a bit of searching to locate these resources, but they are out there.
In order to view most things on facebook, including the pages that have genealogy information, you need to join facebook. After you do that, you can start looking for relatives that have already joined facebook, and connect with them. There is a facebook application called “Family Tree”. You can click a button in this application, and it brings up your entire friends list. Select all of your relatives that are on facebook. It will send each of the relatives that you have selected a “Family Member request”. Next, you need to click a button that grants permission to the Family Tree app to use your information and photos. The idea is that you, and all your family members, will be able to see each other’s status updates in one convenient location. You can bookmark this application so you can find it directly from your profile page, and won’t have to search for it every time you want to use it.
Type the word “genealogy” into the facebook search engine at the top of the page. This brings up a list of several genealogy related pages that are on facebook. Here are a few of the more useful ones:
Genealogy
This page has a detailed definition of what genealogy is. Beneath it are a series of genealogy related links that individual people have posted on facebook.
Genealogy Research
This page collects up facebook statuses that have the phrase “genealogy research” in them. This is a good way to find other people who are working on genealogy research right now, and to read about their experiences.
Genealogy Family History
This page has links that people have posted that relate to genealogy, and family history.
Ancestorville Genealogy
Here is a page where you can post a question about your genealogy research that you are having trouble finding an answer to. Other people can comment if they happen to know where you can find the answer. You can also post an old photo that you have a question about, or a link to a genealogy website that you found useful.
Click the word “groups” that is on the side of your facebook page to view a list of over 500 different genealogy related groups. Each is for a specific heritage, country, or state. Some are more generalized. You can join groups on this list that you find interesting, which will make it easier for you to find them again later.
Image by Igi’s TV Network on Flickr