Facebook's Genealogical Possibilities: A Look at One of the Internet's Most Popular Social Networking Sites

Genealogists spend a lot of time dealing with dead folks. In many ways, they are easy to deal with. They tend to stay put and don't object to you poking into their business. But as any good genealogist knows, you have to spend some time talking to the living. Sometimes you know the relatives, and sometimes you are calling for the first time. The Internet has aided genealogists by providing the possibility of finding people faster.

One major social networking website out there is Facebook. Originally created by Harvard University student Mark Zuckerberg to give incoming students a way to get to know other students and faculty, the site was expanded to include other Ivy League schools, and eventually to all university or high school students. Today, Facebook is open to anyone with an e-mail account and Internet access, and boasts more than 100 million members worldwide. And, it's free.

Facebook: The Basics

Creating a Facebook account is fairly simple, and the site allows users to be as open or as private as they want to be. Often you cannot see a person's profile unless a "friend request" is accepted. Even then, the amount of personal information users want to post is at their discretion. There are some caveats, though. Once a profile is posted, it is not easy to delete it completely, and the information you have posted in the past is still on Facebook's servers somewhere. If you're the sort of person who is very concerned about the openess of the Internet and concerned about your privacy, Facebook might not be for you, or you might want to proceed very, very cautiously. And as with anything else on the Internet, Facebook can be misused, so use the usual precautions as you would with any other Internet tools.

Facebook makes its money by posting ads on its pages, and using data mining. Ads are often targeted to the users. For example, I have seen many ads for RootsMagic© and other genealogy tools because I have genealogy listed as an interest. Facebook also has dozens of applications that can be added to your account, anything from FamilyTree to Photo Sharing to posting items and creating your own newsfeed. All of these applications require you to give permission to the developers' access to your information and your friends' information. So consider carefully before you load up on accepting various requests from your friends that involve applications.

For those who do want to venture in, Facebook does allow you to create the barest of profiles. Typically, people will post a personal photo, and some basic biographical information. Facebook's entire membership is searchable, so if you have family members with unusual last names, you can locate your cousins pretty quickly. This puts you just one friendship request away from an online reunion. And unlike cold calling people on the phone, a Facebook request can be answered at the recipient's leisure. The worst thing that can happen? He or she doesn't reply, or turns out to not be related.

While Facebook has its origins in connecting university students, an amazing number of people their parents' ages are also online. Some may be keeping track of their college-age kids' activities. Others are using it to make connections of their own. Unlike LinkedIn©, which is geared toward professional networking, Facebook has a more informal, personal tone and helps facilitate virtual high-school reunions for people like me, who are 25 years past graduation.

Facebook also provides a certain number of surprises. I recently discovered that two of my younger cousins—grandchildren of my father's first cousins—have gotten married and had children. Because people often list their relationship status, you can also find out who's still married or who's gotten divorced. These passive genealogy uses are helpful if contacting people is not for you.

In just one month, I found about 20 cousins worldwide on Facebook. And a few have found me. One just-out-of-college fourth cousin wrote to me and said, "Are we related?" It can be a two-way street for serendipitous genealogy.

Strategies for Using Facebook for Genealogy

After you have found some cousins and who have accepted your friend requests, you can look at their lists of friends. You will undoubtedly find some siblings, parents, children, or cousins among their friends, allowing you to contact them as well. After you and a few cousins have accepted each others' friendship requests, Facebook shows you friends you have in common. So when I look at my cousin Morel's page, to see the latest photos she's posted in Israel, I also see the faces of her brother and cousin—the people we have in common. "Mutual Friends" are shown in a grouping above a full listing of any member' friends.

One obvious benefit of Facebook is the "face" aspect. You may know right away, in many cases, if you are related to the person if they've posted photos. But many people leave that blank, and you might find yourself confronting twenty people named Lisa Miller and have no idea if she's "your" Lisa Miller. Even if you cannot see Lisa's profile, you often can see each person's list of friends. If you find you have people in common, this helps you narrow down the number of Lisa Millers you need to contact.

But what if you don't have people in common? Well, the person's location, if stated, might help you narrow it down also. At the very least, most stripped-down profiles offer the ability to "send a message," and you can cut and paste that message to multiple Lisa Millers in the hope of finding the right one.

Part of the friend confirmation process allows users to qualify the nature of their relationships. When asked how you know one another, you can confirm that this person is a family member. Facebook will also offer you the chance to meet others based on mutual associations, via a "People You May Know" area that pops up when you go to your home page. When you click on their names, you will see which friends you have in common.

An obvious benefit of connecting with younger cousins is that you can ask them to put you in touch with the older relatives you need to talk to when continuing your research.

Other Facebook Uses for Genealogy

Among Facebook's many third-party applications is Family Tree. This allows you to connect your family members who are on facebook to an online family tree. As with everything else on the Internet, use common sense. Family tree allows you keep the tree private, but if having a long string of people's mothers' maiden names makes you uncomfortable, don't post them. Another problem I have had personally with the Family Tree application is it often is not working. But it's an application worth keeping track of. Family Tree allows you to make a group announcement, share gift ideas, publicize events, and even share a recipe.

Beyond the third-party applications, Facebook also lets you create group lists of the friends with whom you have connected. So you can create multiple groups based on surname or which side of the family they are from, etc.

Using the Newsfeed feature, you can use Facebook as a blog, and post your own genealogical findings, share photos, or post documents you've found during your research that other family members might find interesting. The possibilites are endless, and customizable.

Facebook's popularity means you stand a good chance at discovering some family members online who you might not otherwise find. For the curious and the willing, Facebook can be a rewarding experience genealogically. Happy hunting.

by Seth J. Bookey, MLS

© 2011 The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society

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