The United States Census Bureau has a page on Facebook. Their page contains a lot of interesting information about the Bureau itself, and what the census is all about. Like all Facebook pages, you have to have a Facebook account in order to interact, leave comments, and read the information on the page. Their Facebook page is written in easy to understand language, and has photos and videos.
The United States Census Bureau has a Facebook page because it wants to become a part of social media in order to make it easier for citizens to learn more about the census and the programs it offers. It welcomes your feedback and comments on it’s Facebook page.
At a glance, you can read over the comments and questions left by other Facebook users. There is also a discussion page, which seems to be a place where you can leave a question, in the hopes that someone else will be able to answer it. There are fifteen different topics of discussion right now, some of which have been answered by someone at the U.S. Census Bureau. If you are trying to find something specific and have been stuck, it’s worth a try to ask your question here.
The Facebook page is not the kind of resource that will allow you to search through data that was collected in a particular census. Instead, it has descriptions of other kinds of products that the U.S. Census Bureau is involved with. Obviously, there is the decennial census, which is collected every ten years. There is also an economic census, which is done every five years. There is a census of governments, which is also done every five years, which gathers data on state and local governments. An American Community Survey is done annually. It’s purpose is to collect information that will help the federal and state governments to find out how to best distribute more than $400 billion. These are just a few of the things that the United States Census Bureau is involved in.
In short, genealogists cannot use this Facebook page to look up information or records pertaining to one of their ancestors. Even so, it might be useful for you to start a discussion with a question that has been bothering you. Perhaps someone from the U.S. Census Bureau will leave you a link to where you can find the answer you have been seeking.
Image by Sugar Pond on Flickr